


The Dragons Of Kandrakar

by Wayward_Dragon



Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Canon has been slow roasted @ 225 and carved for juicy bits, Dragon Psychology, Ensemble Cast, Eventual Romance, Multi, Slow Burn, Stealth Crossover, The Author Regrets Nothing, Worldbuilding, author is not interested in being polite or heterosexual, genre salad, guerrilla warfare is a fun after-school activity, now with more dragons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-09-02 23:11:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16796572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayward_Dragon/pseuds/Wayward_Dragon
Summary: Before time began- there was Kandrakar, the first universe.This is a story about its Guardians.-A reboot AU of W.I.T.C.H. that blends cartoon, comic, and chapter book canons.Rated M to be safe





	1. It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> The start of this fic was my 2018 NaNoWriMo project. Though I did not meet the word goal, I did better than any other year- reaching a little over 36k. Due to this, that means I will at least Start with an update schedule because of my ample backlog.  
> This fic has been quite literally 10 years in the making, and I am very excited to be finally working on it properly.  
> Unstated but important changes:  
> I moved the year from 2000 to 2012 and Heatherfield is now in Connecticut as it didn’t have a canon location before and it needed a populated east coast that got snow sometimes.  
> I also messed with the ages and grades so I didn’t have a logistical nightmare with the split schools.  
> Current Ages:  
> Will - 15 (January 19)  
> Irma - 15 (March 13)  
> Taranee - 14 (March 23)  
> Cornelia - 15 (May 10)  
> Hay Lin - 14 (June 4)  
> Elyon - 15 (October 31)
> 
> Without further ado, here we go!

Will Vandom didn’t really know how she felt.

It was raining heavily, and she was going to a new school tomorrow,  _ in the middle of the first semester _ .

Ugh, people would  _ stare _ . 

And  _ ask questions _ .

She wished that they weren’t moving, that she could stay in Fadden Hills and nothing would have changed from this time last year -at least that Awful was predictable.

Shifting in her seat, she stared out of the rain-streaked window of her mother’s beat up car. The highway was a smeared blur as they got closer and closer to the coast- but Will couldn’t bring herself to care much as she remembered why they left.

The incessant phone calls from her father that her mom wouldn't let her answer, the way her old ‘friends’ drifted away one by one as she withdrew and no longer had time to play with them(or felt up to much of anything). The court cases and the police calls and the many,  _ many _ trips to the school guidance counselor and some state-mandated shrink as they smiled condescendingly and asked invasive and insulting questions about why she cut classes and what her  _ feelings _ were and the time she punched a wall and the lights went out.   
In the end, her mom wanted a new start for them both- now that all the court hearings were over.

They were driving to ‘Heatherfield’- a small city on the coast where a friend of her mom had helped them find a new place to stay. Will was tired, and they had been driving for nearly two hours.

A nap wouldn’t hurt, she thought sleepily, she hadn’t had a good night’s rest for a very long time. Slumping against the cold window, the repetitive sound of the rain spirited her into dreamland.

* * *

A bald man clad in pale robes sat cross-legged in the center of a vast circular indoor pool. He had a tattoo on the side of his head and kind, ageless eyes.   
He waited calmly as many strange figures entered the pearly white chamber that housed the pool and sat on the benches surrounding it.

The room seemed to have no ceiling, instead, clouds and fog billowed high above.

The figures walked, slithered, and crawled in one by one. Some murmuring in unknown languages, some silent, some growling and whirring under their breath. Few resembled humans enough to possibly pass as one, and the ones that did look human felt distinctly Not. All were wearing some variation of those pale robes- the color of which was indeterminable, but beautiful. 

Eventually all but two beings seated themselves- one tall old man with a long beard, and one short old woman with a unreadable expression. They both walked up to the bald man- the woman stopping a few feet from him, and the older man just behind him. The bald man quietly greeted the two of them before standing up and speaking to the rest of the congregation.   
“It is time to awaken the new Guardians.”   
The crowd shifted restlessly as the old man beside him spoke, “Are you sure, Oracle?”   
“We must,” The Oracle simply replied, his voice carrying.   
A cat-like woman stood up abruptly, her silvery mane of hair bristling and her long tail lashing as she did. She snarled- fierce and inhuman, as her black lips peeled back to reveal sharp white fangs and her ears flicked back.   
“You can’t be serious!”   
She slashed a clawed hand through the air, exclaiming in disbelief and outrage, “After what happened last time?! Are you mad?! Children have no place on the battlefield besides!” 

The old man sharply turned towards her and took a half-step forward across the surface of the lake, an otherworldly power gathering around him as he snapped, “Luba! You dare?”

The Oracle put a hand on the old man’s shoulder, “It’s alright, Tibor. Luba has a point. However,”   
He rose his voice to cut through the murmurs beginning again, “The veil is weakening, the magic that holds it together is unraveling more rapidly than before. Meridian’s Heart is somewhere else, and it seeks to be reunited. We must keep the evil within from succeeding.”   
Luba growled once more, and with a baleful glare she sat back down.

The Oracle continued as if there was no interruption, “Kandrakar’s Heart shall Awaken once more, and the dragons Will fly again.”   
An echo from another world rippled across the scene, and rain started to pour upon the room, increasing to a dull roar as The Oracle waved his hands and continued his speech- none of the inhabitants paying the weather any mind- as if it was not there.   
“Will,”   
The old woman handed The Oracle an object with shaky hands.

“Will…”   
The Oracle lifted it up as the rain became so heavy only vague shapes remained,   
“ _ Will _ !”   
  
Will snapped awake, flailing in her seat with a little yelp- the dream already fading from her memory as her mom nudged her again, “Will look! There’s your new school!”   
It was this hideously fancy looking brick building surrounded by a tall concrete wall. Like a prison.   
The closed gate had a plaque above it that read, “Sheffield Institute”

Will’s mood nosedived from ‘jumpy and disoriented’ right down to hell, she shot a look at her mom and sighed.   
Her mom gave her a smile and replied cheerfully, “Come on, give it a chance, Will! It’ll be fun!”   
Thunder boomed in the sky, as if to contest this, and the rain seemed to get worse.   
Will gripped the seatbelt and pushed away the feeling of impending doom.

“Yeah…  _ fun _ .”

The rest of the car ride passed in uncomfortable silence- the storm raging around them and the radio barely managing to convey a few commercials through the static. Oh, how Will already hated this town. It was cold, even with the heater in the car going,  _ and _ it was damp and foggy,  _ and _ she was going to some fancy damn  _ Institution _ .

It smelt like seawater even from _ inside _ the car.

Eventually, they got to their new apartment, it wasn’t a large building, just five tenants and the landlord in the building beside it, but it was so much bigger than most buildings in Fadden Hills. There they were, in Heatherfield, Connecticut.

Her mother parked and pulled the key out of the engine while Will hurried to unbuckle herself. As she got out of the car, Will was handed a box of her stuff- they had each brought a box and a bookbag in the car -the rest had been moved yesterday and earlier this morning.

She shouldered her book bag and lugged her rain-soaked belongings into what would be her new home up three flights of stairs. When her mother unlocked the door she trudged straight up to her new room, only pausing to kick off her rain-soaked sneakers.   
The streetlamp outside the window cast a deep contrast of light onto the room as the rain and city sounds echoed dully in the silence.

Taking a shaky breath, Will removed her bookbag and her favorite, slightly worn hoodie and put it on the chair.

Setting to work while her mom bustled around downstairs and flicked on lights, she dug out the non-school things from the backpack to put around.   
A change of clothes on the desk, the alarm clock by her bed on a stack of boxes, cell phone right next to it, and the soft stuffed frog where it belonged next to her pillow. As childish as it was, she just couldn’t bring herself to stop sleeping with it. It was comforting, and still smelled like home.

After all that had happened recently, that familiarity was welcome. Her mom had divorced her father for many messy reasons- she was allowed a little childishness.

She gripped her bag of bathroom supplies and her wallet perhaps more tightly than necessary before remembering she was supposed to be unpacking.

Once finished she eyed her alarm clock and fiddled with it to set it for school the next day.

_ That _ she was dreading very much.

She had gotten a tour already yesterday, which was a Saturday,  _ thank god _ , no awkward poking into classes and having people stare and giggle at the interruption, but the school was massive- much MUCH bigger than her old one. She had absolutely no idea where anything was- having followed the principal around in a daze, and the school just simply being a maze of hallways regardless. Deciding that she would deal with it later, she got ready for bed and set her alarm to go off at seven.

‘ _ Here's hoping tomorrow would be less of a nightmare _ ,’ she thought, not believing that it would be true in the slightest, ‘ _ I wish something good would happen for a change! _ ’

* * *

Yan Lin watched her granddaughter with a heavy heart. It had been two hours since the Awakening Ceremony.

She had felt a spark of power that tingled in her joints like all Ancient Magic did, and went to the Place Between All That Is with the Heart entrusted to her. There she handed the Heart of Kandrakar off to The Oracle to Awaken those the Dragons had chosen.

Four massive ghostly apparitions of the great beasts that once shared existence with her and her friends had appeared upon the pool and curled about, pearl, ruby, gold, and obsidian in color.   
The obsidian one caught her eye for a moment before turning away and it almost hurt.

They stood, as The Oracle extended the Heart above his head, and one by one pressed their noses to it as it started to glow with a bright pink light.

Roaring simultaneously, they then transformed into orbs of light as the clouds above parted.

Another roar echoed, and a fifth dragonic shape that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow winded down out of the sky. However, this one was living.

She flew down from the topless ceiling, where She had been both since She had been torn from Her last Keeper- and where She had roosted on and off for the last four thousand years or so.

Alighting in the chamber, She too stood upon the water. Dipping her head to Yan Lin, She touched her snout to the crystal and vanished in a flash of bright light, leaving behind a glowing orb of energy like all the rest. Finally, each orb flew into The Heart, imbuing it with their energy.

All at once, the drain on her was felt, and Yan Lin steadied herself until the nausea, fatigue, and disorientation of having the vast majority of her magic bled from her passed- not paying attention as The Oracle made another flowery speech. The dragon that had been in her head for over half a century had left it totally quiet once more.

Then, before Yan Lin left, The Oracle gave her names.   


Her sweet, clever granddaughter was going to be thrown into Kandrakar’s battles in a few short days. 

Of course, she Knew from the second she laid eyes on her that her granddaughter was going to take her place -her dragon hummed in her old bones far too excitedly that day in the hospital and had been getting steadily quieter ever since. 

Contrary to her assertions, not all her tears that windy spring day were happy ones- but it didn’t lessen the sting of confirmation. Her granddaughter, two of her friends, and two other unknown kids who would all be drawn together as the dragons settled in and called to each other, and she could do nothing but watch.

By the way her joints now ached and every breath took more effort than before, she knew she didn’t have much longer before Kandrakar collected her permanently -she was simply very old, and no longer had a dragon providing her with energy and chasing away illness. 

It was a good thing she tried her best to skirt the level of acceptable dispensing of knowledge of The Infinite Worlds and snuck in lessons and old history to Hay Lin beforehand, she would need them.

But Yan Lin knew it would not be enough.


	2. It Resumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now our chosen meet as the wheels of fate turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter folks!  
> Tumblrs purging so I released this a few days early to combat the terrible.

Will did not want to get out of bed that morning. She had a headache of unexplainable origins, it was the first day of her new school, and she _just knew_ she would be late to class- especially because her mom wanted to drop her off at the gates with her bike instead of having Will biking all the way there alone for her first day. After getting herself presentable, she trudged into the kitchen and grabbed her food.

Positively skipping, her mom handed her the papers that were supposed to be her schedule. Joy.

 _Easy for her to be happy_ , Will thought as she stuffed the class sheet into her bag and left the rest, she didn’t have to work until _tomorrow_!

Upon arriving at the school, uncomfortably close to the bell, her mother shoved a box into her hands. Will looked over at her mother questioningly, and her mother smiled, “They’re cookies! You can use them to break the ice with the other girls!”  
Before Will could say anything her mother gently shoved her out the door with a few more parting words, “I’ll have the computer and the phone set up by the time you get home, and more of the furniture unpacked, so have fun now, and be yourself! Go get ‘em tiger!”  
Will stumbled back with her hands full of cookies and her bookbag as her mom waved her off.

 _'Yeah right'_ , she grumbled to herself, _'This is going to be a disaster'._  
Too late now.

* * *

Taranee Cook was still terrified.

She had been at her new school for a few days now, and while the terror had eased down into a manageable storm and she was no longer having panic attacks in supply closets, she still desperately didn’t Want To Be Here.

She did well enough in school that she was in no danger of failing and didn’t need to worry- though she did anyway. No, her problem was _everything else_.

She was scared of so many things, and it showed. Once her anxiety kicked in she stuttered and her palms got sweaty and she could barely think and no one wanted to be friends with the weird kid who couldn’t even talk full sentences outside of answering questions in class so she didn’t even try.

Besides, the other kids had all their own groups already from middle school and trying to jump in would be _rude_ .  
Hefting her drawstring bookbag, she heard quietly angry muttering and froze.

“-Stupid! And now I’m lost _and_ talking to myself…”

Taranee turned to look at the new voice, An unfamiliar girl with short bright red hair and a box under her arm was glaring a piece of paper. She deduced that this was probably the other new kid the Principal mentioned.

Plucking up her courage, she asked, “N-need any help?”  
The girl jumped and looked over before smiling sheepishly, “Uh, yeah…”  
Taranee walked over, the panic humming in her chest fading away now that she had a knowledge based task.  
“I got here last week, I know the feeling, it’s a big school!”  
The other girl brightened, “Thanks, my name’s Will! Do you know where the room '105-B' is?”  
Taranee nodded and pointed down the hall, “Down the hall to your right. Keep going until you reach the water fountain.”

Taranee then quickly added before Will took off, “And my names Taranee!”

Will smiled and suddenly asked, “Uh, do you want a cookie?”  
Taranee blinked, “Um-”  
Will then hurriedly explained with the box offered out in front of her, “My mom gave me a bunch and if you want one you can have one but you don't have to if you don't want to- uh I mean-”  
Taranee cut her off, before this could devolve further, “Sure! But, the late bells’ going to ring in a minute!”  
After the hurried cookie exchange, Will waved goodbye and rushed down the hall. As she rounded the corner, Taranee bit into the cookie and felt that perhaps she might not be too alone after all.

When Taranee sat down in the History classroom -about thirty seconds before the late bell sounded and brushing cookie crumbs off of the cuffs of her turtleneck- she ended up next to two girls she sort of tangentially was aware of.

And by that she meant she covertly watched their antics from a few seats away and sometimes they smiled and nodded in greeting instead of ignoring her. They were in a fair few of her classes and got into non-serious trouble fairly often while being loud and slightly disruptive.

The tiny one with long, dark pigtails was drawing something on her wrist, and the brown-haired one- who was probably called Irma and Definitely the louder of the two, was rearranging her pencil case.

Leafing through his paperwork, the teacher spoke up, “Now that we're all here,” Taranee reflexively hunched down in her desk a little, “I hope you're all ready for a pop quiz!”

Probably-Irma didn’t look ready at all, and burst out, “But, Mr, Collins! _Yesterday_ you said today would be a review!”  
The teacher smirked at the whine in her voice and made a mock sinister tone, “You should know, Miss Lair, that we teachers are Evil by nature!”

This particular teacher let them get away with quite a lot, and was in general very friendly and prone to going along with the other kid’s bullshit. Taranee would rate him in the top tier of teachers she’d had over the years.

Her friend giggled and joined in, “I thought that was just the math teachers!”  
Probably Irma, Definitely 'Ms Lair' looked over at said friend with a pout, “No, those ones are just _sadists_.”

Mr. Collins chuckled and started rummaging in his desk.

Quietly, Probably-Irma’s friend nudged her and whispered, but still loud enough for Taranee to hear, “Hey Irma,” So that _was_ her name! “What’s wrong? Your magic doesn’t work anymore?”

That sounded interesting.

“What magic?”  
Oops she spoke aloud. She fully expected to be ignored, but the friend turned with a mischievous smile and seemed to be ready to answer when Irma quickly covered her mouth with a hand and whispered loudly in a very unconvincing tone, “Nothing! She just likes talking!”  
In response, said chatty friend bit the hand over her mouth, causing Irma to yelp loudly and theatrically before flinging her hand skyward to tattle,

“Mr. Collins! Hay Lin bit me!”  
The teacher, ignoring the attached words, exclaimed, “Ah! A raised hand! You can answer the first question!”  
While Irma sputtered that she wasn’t volunteering, the now named Hay Lin turned to Taranee with a smirk and whispered, “Watch! First she gets mad, and then she gets desperate…”  
Directing her gaze to Irma, Taranee settled in to watch.

Said girl turned to Hay Lin and frantically whispered as Mr. Collins flipped through the textbook he had retrieved, “Hush! I didn’t study, all I know is some trivia about supply lines on the Oregon Trail, okay?!  
Hay Lin paid no attention and continued to narrate, “Then she closes her eyes and prays…”  
Irma did exactly that after sending a half-hearted glare at her, muttering under her breath, “Ask me about the Oregon Trail... come on… Oregon Trail! Pleaseplease _please_ -”  
Undeterred, Hay Lin continued, “And if it really is the only way she's going to pass, the teacher will ask it! I don’t know _how_ she does it, but it works _every time_ !”  
The teacher hummed at the front of the room, “Alright, Miss Lair, please tell me what you know about the Oregon Trail!”  
Taranee blinked in stunned silence. That was… Really something. Irma beamed and set into her answer, waving her hands about.  
Hay Lin grinned and mouthed 'Bingo!' at Taranee, who smiled shyly in return.

Today really _was_ looking up.

* * *

  
  
Cornelia hadn’t been able to concentrate properly all day.

Catching herself again staring blankly and not taking any notes or hearing a word the teacher had said, she shook herself and hurriedly copied what was on the board upon her notebook, not even taking in what she was writing.

Outside the window, leaves swirled and caught her eye, it was mesmerizing and made her long to be in motion -spinning and gliding about just like the foliage on the ground.

 _'Focus!'_ she scolded herself, ' _Pay attention to the lesson! You haven't done this bad since at least grade school!_ '

She let a long calming breath quietly hiss out from between her teeth, then picked up her pen again. Carefully writing the next set of sentences in orderly, legible, handwriting, not a curve out of place, she set about making her notes _really_ good this time- functionally Perfect and Balanced in aesthetics.

She looked up when the slide changed, and realized she hadn’t heard the teacher _that_ time either! She had paid _too much_ attention to taking notes and yet again zoned out.

Frustrated and restless, she desperately wished for something, _anything_ , to allow her a break to get up and stretch her legs if she just wasn’t going to be able to focus today.  
An odd humming, reaching sensation brushed her senses as she willed this desire into being before it slipped away.  
The teacher again changed the projection on the board, but then suddenly-

POP!

_-sizzle!-_

The lights flickered and then went out, taking the projector with it. Cornelia sat bolt upright as Martin yelped mid-answer and flailed out of his seat.  
Some coincidence! The teacher went to the door and told the class to take a break for a moment while she got someone to help with the lights. After a moment, Cornelia fluidly got up from her seat -careful not to look like she was in a hurry- and slowly went through a round of stretches as the kids around her chatted nervously, looked at their phones, or snooped around the teacher’s desk.

Eventually the teacher and a harried janitor came back, explaining that class would have to be cut short because moss, of all things, had somehow grown in the fuse and they needed to fix it before they could use the power in this room.

The janitor shrugged, “Well, good thing this classroom is the last one in the circuit or there would be a bigger problem”  
The class laughed, but Cornelia didn’t feel up to it, a fizzy, uncomfortable feeling brewed in her gut as she thought about how she had willed it, and then _something happened_.

The world was run with logic and Rules, physics was her favorite subject.

This… Coincidence was just _not possible_.

Completing her last repetition of her shoulder stretches, she put her things into her messenger bag and filed out the door with the rest of the kids.

Today is just a weird day, she repeated firmly to herself, _there is no such thing as magic_.

The janitor cursed in the classroom behind her as he smacked his head on the metal box containing the wayward moss.

 _Just in case, though_ , she amended, _no more thinking about wishes too hard_.

+++

Irma Lair was in a mood. Sure she had weaseled out of failing an oral test with her Jedi mind-trick again, but that wasn’t the point.

“ _Hay Lin_! You can’t tell just anyone who asks about that!”  
Hay Lin hummed noncommittally as they walked down to the last class of the day, “I only told one person, and she seemed alright! Besides! She promised not to tell anyone else!”  
Irma huffed, “You talked to her once. _Once_! For negative five seconds! You’re usually more suspicious than I am! What gives?”  
Hay Lin tugged her goggles down over her eyes, “Well, I dunno! It just seemed right to tell her. I’m sorry I didn’t consult you first about sharing your secret, though.”  
Irma was silent for a moment, “Yeah... Ok. Consider yourself forgiven!”

Because _the thing was_ , unspoken but acknowledged between them, Irma thought she was a good choice for a secret keeper, too.  
Almost like Hay Lin, or -as loathe as she was to admit it-

“Hey Cornelia!”  
Hay Lin, who had just yelled across the hall to said girl, waved enthusiastically.  
Serious mood broken, Irma trotted after her more energetic friend as Hay Lin pulled up her goggles and careened over to Cornelia.

“Irma did The Thing again!” Hay Lin proclaimed, wiggling her fingers to indicate it was the test magic.

Cornelia flashed a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes in return, “Really.”  
Irma, without any heat said, “And Hay Lin told one of the new kids about it.”  
Hay Lin pouted, “Taranee’s nice and isn’t gonna tell anyone! Besides its not like they’re gonna arrest you or anything for just having really, REALLY good luck! We just went over this!”  
Cornelia shrugged distractedly, and then glanced up at the clock, “Well, good for you, I have to walk to the other side of the school now, so see you at lunch!”  
The parted ways and Hay Lin deftly caught Irma’s wrist to instigate a handhold as they continued walking.

On the way Hay Lin stated, “Hey, Did Cornelia seem off to you just now?”  
Irma shrugged faux casually and threaded her fingers into Hay Lin’s grasp -bumping shoulders in a casual movement, “Probably just huffy she wasn’t the prettiest girl in the room that day. She’ll get over it later.”

When they got to Irma’s class they too parted ways and Irma sighed.

English class, _what fun_. Not.

At least she could look forward to the Halloween party tonight.

* * *

Hay Lin didn’t particularly want to pay attention in class today. It was easier when someone she was friends with was around, but when she was in class by herself, _oh man_!  
All she could think about was that dream she had last night.

She was floating weightlessly in a void for what seemed like forever, but then suddenly she heard an unearthly roar and began falling through rapidly lightening clouds. As she fell, her body tingled and then transformed, becoming a winding shape with a long snout and tail. Small wings burst from her back and spread to catch the breeze, and then suddenly she was no longer falling.

Then she saw it, a bright pink circular shape floating before her, surrounded by multicolored glyphs. Any apprehension she had felt beforehand melted away at the sight, and the light beckoned her deeply. She flew forward to get a better look, but when she approached, she suddenly woke up.

It was so vivid! And she had been totally lucid the whole time!  
She was gonna tell her grandma about it, but her grandma had gotten up later than usual that morning and Hay Lin thought maybe she wouldn’t be up to dream talk that day. Sometimes her grandma would just get in a sad mood and Hay Lin didn’t want to make it worse.

The night before her grandma had set out the fancy plates and made a really big tasty meal and then claimed that it was in honor of a friend, and well.

Hay Lin wasn’t stupid, she knew her grandma talked of most people she knew in the past tense. It would be better to give her grandma some space for a a bit.

Apparently her grandma used to leave for a couple days at a time with the explanation of 'alone time' pretty often before Hay Lin was old enough to remember, and her grandma was just simply _too old_ to be doing that now!

Hay Lin shook her head and went back to answering the questions on her worksheet.

_'Class now, worry later!'_

* * *

Elyon Brown was mildly distressed.

She had failed her math test, and was one of the only students in her class to do so.

Ugh!

Her parents would be understanding, of course, but would reinstate the hour of required study time after dinner and while she liked it when she was younger and it really helped her, sitting down with her parents and trying to explain her homework and how it was done now just felt _embarrassing_.

They lived like they were still in the middle ages, a fireplace in their rural house instead of a modern furnace, no internet, no cell phones -just a landline they _barely_ ever used! Like, she loved her parents very much, don’t get her wrong, but…

Sometimes she wished she didn’t have to smile awkwardly and say, _‘oh sorry I don’t have a cell phone!'_ or _‘sorry I can’t email you when I get home, I have to use the internet at the library, my parents are old-fashioned and don’t have it yet!’_

She located Cornelia where she was waiting by one of the trees on the campus, and made her way over to her just as Hay Lin half-jogged towards them, waving at a girl she didn’t recognize and dragging Irma behind her.

Cornelia glanced over, zeroing in on the stranger speedwalking away, “Who was that?”  
Hay Lin perked up, “That's the new kid we were talking about earlier, Taranee! She’s very nice but shy, so be gentle if you talk to her!”

Hay Lin then adjusted her messenger bag and continued, “Isn’t the other new kid in your homeroom, Cornelia?”  
Cornelia nodded in affirmation, “Yeah, but she’s been in more of Elyon’s classes than mine.”  
That was true. The scruffy redhead had fell into class at the last minute and had nervously made her way through the day, uncomfortably correcting each teacher about her name( _‘It’s uh, just Will, please!'_ ), getting faster about saying it with each successive introduction. She seemed more queasy and vaguely bitey each time Elyon had seen her, but she had also looked like a hopeful puppy when Elyon accepted a cookie from her for giving her directions, so Elyon decided she was probably alright.

Oh. She was supposed to be talking now.

“Her name’s Will, and she’s pretty nice once you get past the new kid nervousness.”  
There were vague noises of acknowledgement and then Irma said, “So Elyon, how did the math test go?”

Her mood soured instantly.  
It must have shown on her face because Irma grinned, “Oh ho! You know what that means!”  
Hay Lin chimed in with a loud singsong, “PUNISHMENT!~”  
_“Oh come onnn,"_ Elyon whined, “Can’t you just ignore it? I only failed by one point! And it’s my _birthday_!”

She and her parents didn’t really celebrate birthdays or holidays much, just big dinner and a few small presents here and there, and really, she didn’t want anything else, but it was the principle of the thing.

Cornelia responded almost cheerfully, “Nope! You know The Rules!”  
The Rules were a formalized dare system largely because Irma needed a kick in the ass to do better in school, Hay Lin was an adrenaline junkie, and Cornelia liked things formalized with clear rules. Elyon participated because it made her actually _want_ to study.

The Rules were as follows:

-If someone gets a failing grade on a paper test of any kind or any other major assignment, they had to accept a dare

-If someone didn’t turn in homework on time twice in a row, they had to accept a dare

-Dares may not cause any lasting major social repercussions, nor contain any risk of serious bodily harm.

-All other members of the group must agree that the dare is acceptable before it is finalized.

-Awkward penalties only, it’s meant to be fun, not malicious.

It kept things reasonable and gave them incentive to not shirk their work.

But now Cornelia had an amused tilt to her pretty smile, and Elyon knew she was going to get stuck with something stupid.

“I thought _Matt_ -ematics was your favorite subject?”

Irma rubbed her hands together and cackled as Elyon yelped, “Leave Matt out of this! I’ll scale the fire escape on that abandoned building on third street and take the sign off the side of the door! That's scary and questionable enough! I’ll do way better on the next one! Just you wait!”

Hay Lin giggled, “I don’t know! I think you might do better if someone you like helps you study!”

She absolutely _would not_!

Irma added with a sly grin, “So Elyon asks her crush to help her study for an afternoon, then!”

Cornelia nodded, and Hay Lin hollered, “AGREED!” Loud enough to spook the pigeon off the rock beside them.

Elyon sighed in defeat.

Matt was cute the way a puppy was cute. He didn’t tease people or act gross like a lot of boys in high school, and could play guitar and sing very, _very_ well. He also adored animals, which was a plus.

He was a grade ahead of them, and if Elyon had to pick a boy to date, she would pick him every time- even if her type was more tall, blonde, and charming.

Cornelia brushed an elegant hand against Elyon’s shoulder, and Elyon smiled ruefully.  
“Alright, so I guess you all have to wish me luck then!”  
Irma gave her a thumbs up, “That’s the spirit!”  
Returning the thumbs up, Elyon called out a goodbye and ran to catch her bus, the buzz of anticipation for carrying out the dare thrumming in her veins.

_‘Despite the risks, I have a good feeling about this dare!'_

* * *

Cornelia was meandering towards the bike rack after Elyon left for her bus and Irma and Hay Lin scampered off to walk home when she heard a very irate voice she did not recognize snap, “Did you guys do this?!”

Cornelia rounded the corner and was greeted with the sight of Taranee standing ramrod straight behind who could only be the newest transfer. Crouched with her hands balled into fists and glaring at Uriah’s clique, Will looked about five seconds from landing herself detention and injuring herself in a very unfair fight besides.

The reason for this was a twisted pretzel of every bike in the bike rack.

The tall blonde one in the varsity jacket of whom Cornelia deliberately Never learned the name of let out a peal of laughter, “Looks like somebody's gonna be walking home today!”

Kurt, the greasy one in a band t-shirt and holding a pair of bolt cutters giggled as well, “Well aren’t you cute when you’re mad!”

Seeing Will fall into a very still and relaxed stance Cornelia recognized as one of someone about to seriously lose their shit, she decided to intervene, “You know vandalism is a crime right? At least half those bikes had locks on them.”

Uriah looked ready to protest but Nigel, the one who never seemed to want to be there, started edging away. Will jumped, clearly surprised she was there, or even helping.

“And my bike is in the middle of that mess too, so we’re going to have some problems.”

Cornelia reluctantly pulled on her anger and willed them to feel it, to tremble before her, despite not really wanting to do more _Not Magic_. She had new kids who needed her help, and Will was going to get a detention for starting a fistfight on her first day if she didn’t scatter the instigators.

The minions stiffened.

Uriah glanced at her, then at Taranee, who seemed to have made up her mind if she was more scared or more angry( _it was more angry_ ), and Will, who was ready to throw hands.

After a tense moment he sneered and spat on the sidewalk, “Yeah, whatever. Lets go, guys!”

The four of them slinked off and Cornelia went over to help untangle the bikes.

“Sorry about that,” Cornelia began -switching her tone into a more gentle one, “That’s Uriah and his little gang you just had the displeasure of meeting.”  
Will grunted and replied, “Sure could have done without it,” then started yanking the bikes apart. Cornelia blinked in surprise before kneeling beside her. Maybe the fight wouldn’t have been as one-sided as Cornelia thought it would have been. How strong was she if she could do that with little effort?

After a few minutes of untangling, and another two bikers arriving and hurrying to extract their own ride as Cornelia explained who was responsible, they managed to unmake the mess Uriah had created.

Cornelia scrambled for a conversation topic as Will reattached her bike seat.

“So are you two going to tonight’s party?”

Will tensed like a deer in headlights, “Party? What party?”

Taranee slapped a hand to her forehead, “Oh no! I forgot all about what day it was!”

Cornelia decided to explain, “The Halloween party. It starts at 9, and goes ‘till a little after midnight.”

Will tilted her head, “Isn’t that kind of late for a school night?”

Cornelia examined her bike for any damage and finding none she replied, “We have tomorrow off, did no one tell you? They put the mandatory teacher workshop the day after if Halloween lands on Monday through Thursday so they don’t have to deal with a bunch of late and absent kids.”

Taranee hummed, “That’s actually really good planning ahead.”

Will scuffed her sneakers on the concrete, suddenly looking shy again as the adrenaline of the situation died away, “Look I don’t know, I haven’t been to a party in ages…”

Cornelia hurriedly assured her, “It’s alright! It’s pretty low key, a local band plays, we have a costume contest, and it’s free to get in! You don’t have to go, but it would be nice to see you there!”

For once, that phrase wasn’t just a reflex, Cornelia _did_ want to see them again. Anyone who was prepared to knock Uriah’s lights out was alright in her book, and they both seemed like pretty nice girls once they weren’t on the defensive( _she was furiously ignoring how she felt like she was coming home when she laid eyes on them. It was more silly crazyspeak_ ).

Suddenly, Cornelia remembered her manners, she strode forward and extended her hand towards the two of them, “I’m Cornelia, it’s nice to meet you both, even if the circumstances could have been better!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized as I was rereading the official English chapter books that Cornelia’s intro chapter reads a little like she has adhd so I just kind of tweaked that a Little.
> 
> I also enhanced her ‘magic isn’t real’ stance because its a plot point in the comics and it needs to be able to hold up under the canonical shit that happened before she finally gave in. It now runs on a strong attachment to rules and order.
> 
> The level of gay in this chapter, believe it or not, is a little less than in the chapter books! Especially from Taranee’s POV. The only reason it isn't At that level in mine is that I'm not Terribly comfortable writing a lot of Thirst Observations of 14-15 year olds.


	3. Green Thumb, Sticky Fingers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Caleb, he who brought the rating up to M.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, Violence and body horror warning. Not all the way through the chapter, but. Its there.

Caleb crouched in the underbrush outside the watchtower. This was the most daring mission he had ever been apart of. He had practiced for _months_ leading up to this- breaking into watchtowers and guard outposts over and over until he was sure he could do this. His long-time friend Aldarn crouched beside him- pale green skin almost glowing in the light, over which a set of shabby leather armor hugged his muscular frame. Aldarn murmured, “Last chance to turn around.”

Caleb smirked, “With you watching my back I don’t need to worry.”

Aldarn gave a weak smile back, “For the record, I still think this is a bad idea.”

Caleb quietly clapped Aldarn on his shoulder before saying, “I have to do this. And I’m the only one who can. If I don’t make it out, get back and tell everyone that Phobos is planning something big.”

Aldarn nodded seriously, the weak humor from before gone.

Caleb looked into his eyes for a long moment, steeling himself for what came next, then watched the guards until they were both in _just_ the right position and darted forward silently.

In the space of a breath he had darted up and onto a small ledge and thrown a rock in the opposite direction.

Up up, he quickly climbed before arriving at a window and ducking in. He heard a noise and froze.

There below him at the entrance to the room was another guard, fast asleep with his ruddy gold ears twitching slightly.

Carefully, _carefully_ , he lowered himself out of the window and onto a stack of wooden crates. He looked around, the objective had been to steal some flash powder and any steel, maps, and information he could.

He located the stack of flash powder barrels -more than he had seen in one place _ever-_ and crept into the adjacent room to see if the information from their spy was correct.

There in that room, was a plethora of stacked weapons, stolen from the resistance. Caleb smirked, _‘l_ _ _ooks_ like Vathek is trustworthy after all.' _

He carefully picked up a longsword and holstered it to his back, and took a few knives and strapped them to his pants. He walked a few more steps in further and saw It. He knew from the craftsmanship and small burnt symbol on the handle that it was Aldarn’s father’s bow. The man had handmade that bow and with it shot down many a soldier before being captured and publicly executed.

He simply _had_ to get it back.

He picked it up and slung it too over his shoulder. With that, he didn’t have the ability to take much more with him, it would be too cumbersome.

He then thought back to the crude map of the castle Vathek had drawn in the dirt when they had met before he was tapped for a mission. In order to get to the map room, he would need to kill the guard, and then he would be on a strict time limit.

He picked up another knife and crept behind the guard.

One short movement later and the guard dropped almost silently to the floor, choking on his own blood.

He left the red-slicked knife on the ground, carrying trackable blood was just a bad idea.

With a quiet prayer to the Deep Snake in acknowledgement of the guard’s life, he covered him with a burlap sheet from another stack of supplies and snuck further into the castle. The flash powder would come last.

He crept through the halls, and then carefully opened a door to the place no other escanor could pass.

This was one of the many massive gardens Phobos kept, and it was as beautiful as the rumors suggested. He was in awe of the vibrant and exotic plants.

He carefully crept through the garden, trying to stay close to the wall.

He was just pushing past a tall plant with massive, drooping leaves when he saw a humanoid figure standing before him.

He froze.

This was why only he could do this.

There before him was a grotesque figure, a Escanor-Galhot hybrid was frozen in place, literally rooted to the ground, its stomach split open and vibrant mushrooms sprouting out of it. This was a corpse, weaponized against the public, its flesh shriveled and dried and smelling even from a distance like peaty rot. The air was hazy around it and its eyes were milk white and frozen open. The Murmur Fungus was deadly to all _at best_ , and at worst it wore your body like a second skin and made it serve Phobos. Everyone feared it, but, as he had discovered by accident, he was totally immune to this. But not without the consequences of that first infection.

They were sure he was going to die, but he was just a toddler at the time, and his father was desperate and held out rather than mercy kill him as per protocol when he had been exposed.

He had only the blurriest memory of pain and choking of the event himself, but for whatever reason, he didn’t sprout the fungus and didn’t lose his mind.

He did however, end up with green scars jaggedly marring most of his body and his once hazel eyes had become a pale green.

Ever since then, he didn’t get so much as sick from Murmur spores.

They deemed him a miracle and a curse in the same breath.

 _Unnatural_ , they muttered, _why didn’t the boy just join a church and put his unnaturalness to good use?_

Is it any wonder he officially joined the rebels when he turned thirteen?

It had been three years since then, and he had risen up the ranks ( _both willingly and unwillingly_ ). Now he was effectively in charge of the Western Group _‘My father is NOT dead’_ , he adamantly repeated to himself, _'I WILL find where they took him!'_

Reassuring himself he wasn’t choking on the spores, he quickly walked away from the lethal corpse.

He located the door and peered through the crack, again the hall was deserted, so he darted down the hall and into a room. There was a few rolled maps on the table and some assorted coins.

The first map was simply that of the city, with a few places marked in red- he recognized a few as rebel hideouts. The second was one of Torus Finley, and the third was of a place he didn’t recognize. He took everything- sealing it into a thin wooden box that would keep out water, and then quickly retraced his steps.

When he arrived at the first room, he started pushing the barrels of flash powder out the window. He got to eleven when he heard the alert horn and knew he had been discovered.

The guard bursting in and giving a snarling shout was his second clue.

He unsheathed his new sword and brought it up in time to parry a strike from the guards own blade.

Lashing out with a kick, he got the guard to stumble backwards. Then he ran backwards to the window and grabbed the torch beside it.

Better to let the powder burn then let Phobos keep it.

He tossed the torch into where one of the barrels had burst open as the guard shouted in surprise and jumped out the window and into the swampy water below.

The boom echoed even under the window, and Caleb hurried to swim under the water away from the debris that would be falling.

He emerged from the water to where Aldarn had loaded a Hūgong and cart up with the barrels. He tossed the bow to Aldarn, who accepted it with a grin and hopped upon the feathered steed. Tugging the bird’s long feelers, Aldarn’s mount took off down the forest path. As he shot out of sight, Aldarn made the signal that meant he would complete the objective. It was now up to Caleb to evade capture, and he had to lead them away from Aldarn.

Challenge accepted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Caleb just killed a dude.  
> He’s a revolutionary guerrilla fighter trying to take down Phobos. That means fighting and sometimes killing people, ESPECIALLY if you don’t have magic to fall back on. ESPECIALLY if your side isn’t strong enough to resolve things ‘peacefully’ from a position of power. This means poisoning people. This means assassinating people. This means, yes, a 17 year old in The Resistance is going to have enough experience by that point in his life to be able to kill a dude and not make that much of a deal about it.  
> Even in the cartoon, Caleb pretty obviously knows how to hurt people very badly with a sharp stick. And in a world with little modern medical care, that's as good as killing someone once infection sets in.
> 
> Fun biology fact- Murmurs are based on Ophiocordycipitaceae- a fascinating realworld family of fungus that takes over the bodies of insects and makes them climb to tall places before killing them and sprouting. 
> 
> I want to make this clear, while I intend to really show off the realities of the world Gnone, Barbucci, and Canepa first painted for us, I AM NOT making a grimdark angst fest(not that there’s anything wrong with grimdark retellings when done right). This is meant to be a story with a happy ending and a prevailing sense of light and hope, the characters just have to go through hell to get there.
> 
> Also the point where Caleb was waxing poetic about Aldarn like a homoerotic shonen protag? That is Exactly the point in which I realized who I’m endgame shipping Caleb with in this.


	4. All Hallows Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now the fires are set.

Uriah had never needed to worry about much of anything. His high school career meant little to him, as he would just be getting a guaranteed job under his father -a highly paid manager- when he graduated. He had free reign in the house alone for much of the week, and a housekeeper came by every week to take care of many of the chores. He coasted by knowing that he could blatantly get away with almost anything.

Almost.

Uriah flicked his gaze to Nigel, “Is the coast clear?”

Nigel hesitated, peeked around the corner and then said in a bored tone, “Clear.”

Uriah rolled his eyes, Nigel was so hard to amuse! No sense of humor on that one.

With a grunt he pulled a gym bag he had shoved in his locker earlier that week out and dropped it on the floor.

Kurt spoke up as they all gathered around the bag, “What is it?”

Uriah grinned and unzipped the bag -revealing a mess of fireworks he had taken off of his old man’s boat- he wouldn’t miss ‘em.

“The school is providing the food, but  _ we’re _ providing the entertainment!”

* * *

Taranee and Will biked their way through downtown at a leisurely pace, conversing as they went.

“So are you going?” Will asked.

Taranee made a noncommittal noise, so Will carried on, “I don’t know if i’m going either. I might help my mom hook up the internet.”

To be honest she was probably just going to watch really terrible 70s slasher movies all night as her mother had probably managed to do it herself already, but she was very reluctant to go into a strobing, loud, and unfamiliar social hell. 

“Well if you aren’t going, I’m not going either!”

Will glanced over in mild surprise at Taranee, and the other girl elaborated, suddenly nervous again, “I mean I don’t know very many people still and -um,”

Smiling lightly, and kind of touched, Will pulled out her phone, “Let’s see what the boss has to say.”

Will dialed her mother and she picked up on the second ring, “Hi mom!”

Her mom’s voice instantly started in on the questions, “Oh Will! How was your first day? Did you make any new friends?”

“Uh sure, I guess- um,”

“Were the cookies a hit?”

“Maybe? But uh, listen. The school is having a Halloween party tonight, and-”

“Really! Oh that’s great, you should go! Meet some people, have fun!”

“Wait! But, um- just listen, it’s…”

“I looked over the school schedule you left on the table and it’s a day off tomorrow so i’m not worried in the slightest!”

Will screamed internally as her mother doomed her to spending three hours at a party filled with strangers.

“What time does it start, honey?”

Will sighed, she should preemptively take some ibuprofen when she got home, “Nine, and goes until a little after midnight.”

“Ok honey!”

Dammit.

* * *

Hay Lin sat perched on the window ledge of her room as she chattered to Irma, “ _Noo_ , I haven’t decided yet, Irma! It’s gonna be _amazing_ though!”

Irma’s voice echoed incredulously alongside some water splashes, “It’s _literally_ three and a half hours away from the party! What possessed you to wait this long!?”

Hay Lin made a mock whine and a pout Irma couldn’t see, “I was _busy_ and preoccupied! Don’t worry, I’m a pro at rush jobs, though! It’ll be absolutely  _ magical _ -”

Hearing her Grandma’s footsteps up the stairs, she bounced over to the door and poked her head out, “I’ll be ready in time, promise! Ten minutes on the sewing machine and I’ll be good, right Grandma?”

Her grandmother gave her a fond and slightly exasperated smile, “Ten minutes, as always.”

Hay Lin grinned and bounced back to her ledge, avoiding the scattered comic books, manga, and art supplies littering her bedroom floor.

Tonight was going to be like nothing else!

She could just  _ Feel it _ .

* * *

Will waved goodbye to her mom as her and Taranee got out in front of the school gates. They got there a full hour late due to a variety of agonizing on both Will and Taranee’s parts on what to wear and if they should even go. In the end, Will had decided on the flowy black sleeveless dress she had gotten a few years back and slung her hoodie over it. If she dressed up in a costume she’d probably get teased for being childish -seeing as she only had a frog onesie and a pair of shabby felt cat ears.

Her mom then elected to be as embarrassing as possible, leaning toward her new maybe-friend and saying “Have fun girls, and Taranee, Will’s a shy girl, put a little fire into her!”

Will groaned and put her head into her hands as Taranee replied awkwardly, “Uh, maybe I’m not the right person for that, but -uh, I’ll… Try?”

Her mom gave them a thumbs up and pulled away from the curb, leaving them to their fate.

They walked slowly on their way to the gym, following the cardboard signs duct-taped at random intervals.

When they rounded the corner and laid eyes on the entrance to the gym, Will said in a half-hearted attempt to chicken out, “There’s still time! We still can turn around and go home”

Taranee froze, looking towards a familiar figure holding a witch’s hat, “I think it’s too late for that…”

Waving, Cornelia strode forward in a long skirt and crop top she  _ absolutely _ would have been dress-coded for during school hours, “Hello, girls! You _did_ make it!”

She plonked the witch’s hat on Will head and herded them into the building.

It was terribly efficient and done with such a calm, controlled confidence that Will didn’t even protest the invasion of personal space.

Cornelia then pointed out where everything was and gently escorted them to a corner where three other girls were loitering.

_ 'Cornelia should be a tour guide,'  _ Will thought, _‘_ _ This doesn’t seem all that scary anymore .’ _

Just  _ something _ about Cornelia made something settle inside of her- No, no, that was  _ silly _ !

They just met, and Cornelia is just  _ really _ good at managing people.

See, even Taranee looked somewhat more comfortable now!

Just. Scary good at managing people, and the party really wasn’t as bad as Will thought it would be!

Everything was going to be  _ just fine _ .

Cornelia did a round of name exchanges with the three other girls, the one in the gorgeous and apparently homemade outfit was Hay Lin, the slightly grumpy girl in blue was Irma, and the one wearing a forest sprite costume was Elyon.

Some other kid came up in a toilet paper mummy costume and brandished a camera with the school’s name sharpied on it, “Picture for the school paper, ladies?” he said hopefully.

Hay Lin instantly struck a pose and Elyon joined a heartbeat after as everyone else halfheartedly crowded in and smiled obediently.

After the baby journalist wandered off, the other girls asked them all the usual new kid questions as mediocre pop music that was clearly screened by the teachers played. Eventually, Hay Lin tugged Irma away to go raid the food table.

Rolling her eyes, Cornelia gestured to the stage where a few students were finishing setting up some band equipment.

“That there,” She said, “Is Cobalt Blue. A rock band made of some Juniors and Sophomores. They play at local venues and charities pretty often.”

Elyon chimed in, “The singer and lead guitarist is really good! His name’s Matt Olsen and he’s actually super nice!”

Just then the speakers turned on and a friendly teenage boy’s voice boomed in the gym, “Hi everyone! You can all hear me, yeah?”

The crowd cheered a little.

“Alright! It’s a half hour ‘till midnight, so if you have a costume and want to enter the costume contest, you can still go out out the soccer field and sign up, the judges will begin choosing the winner in ten minutes!”

Some of the crowd dispersed outside to presumably get their costume judged.

Matt then struck a chord on his guitar and continued, “We’re Cobalt Blue, and we’re gonna play our new album tonight!”

The crowd cheered again, and Matt added, “It’s also available on our bandcamp,” before stepping back and beginning their performance.

Will had to admit, they were very good. Matt had a nice voice for the kind of music he was singing -he hit the high notes perfectly, and the song was honestly catchy.

Hay Lin and Irma returned from the snack table giggling and leaning on each other as the song faded out.

Grinning, Hay Lin floated over with her arms full of cups of fruit punch and handed them off. Taking one, Will suddenly felt a bizarre sensation- like someone was staring over her shoulder for a moment, she looked behind her in a faux casual move, but there was no one there.

Eerie.

Suddenly, Hay Lin perked up and snapped her gaze to the door, “Oh look at them! They look simply  _ otherworldly _ !”

In the doorway, two figures strolled their way into the party, one a hulking figure with a very realistic snarling mask, and another a beautiful, willowy boy with long blonde hair and his face painted red and white.

Irma whistled before commenting, “Anyone know who they are?”

Cornelia shrugged and responded, “They’re wearing face paint and masks. Hard to say.”

Jumping in, Elyon said with faux casualness, “You know, I think the tall one’s pretty cute.”

Will had no idea what that meant, and by Taranee’s puzzled look, she didn’t either. The other girls, however, seemed to.

Cornelia hummed, “What do you think, Irma, do you think Elyon should ask him instead of Matt?”

Irma, with the confidence of someone who appreciated mayhem replied, “Oh absolutely. We can let her off on a technicality with a warning this time.”

Hay Lin gave a thumbs up before noticing Taranee and Will’s confusion. She then explained, “We have a whole system where we dare each other to do vaguely embarrassing and/or risky stuff if we get bad grades to make us study better. It’s opt in, you don’t _have_ to do it if you don’t want to, though! Elyon failed a math test so we dared her to ask a boy she likes to study with her as punishment, and it’s her birthday so we’re letting her choose her target!”

Taranee turned toward Elyon, “Oh It’s your birthday? Happy Birthday!”

Will then also added her congratulations. Must be weird having your birthday on a holiday.

Elyon downed the rest of her punch and watched as the willowy one stalked his way through the crowd- his larger companion migrating to the other door and looking about.

She then commented with a smirk, “I bet he gives  _ great _ math lessons.”

Irma snorted and gently pushed her in the direction he disappeared to, “Then go ask Mr. Mysterious Senior for one! He might even say yes!  _ Get, ‘em _ , girl!”

Elyon laughed, “Ok, ok! Wish me luck! I’m gonna do it!”

Irma gave her a thumbs up as she slipped away into the crowd, but suddenly, Will felt it again.

That odd paranoia feeling- but this time much stronger and accompanied by a wave of dizziness. Her empty drink cup slipped from her fingers as the world suddenly felt so far away. There was a buzzing in her limbs and head and her headache pulsed as she stumbled a little.

She heard Taranee’s voice call out, “Hey, woah! Will are you ok?!”

The dizziness faded, and Will shook her head, giving the girls suddenly crowding around her in concern a shaky smile, “Hahaha, whoops! I’m fine, I think I just need to get some fresh air.”

Cornelia then took control again and herded them all out the other door to where the costume contest was taking place. She mimed some signal to Elyon, who waved in assent and went back to talking to the stranger as they went past them.

Once outside, Will did feel better. The five of them admired some of the more intricate costumes the others were wearing as the clock ticked down. They watched as the stranger in the blue snarling mask was pushed onto stage by another senior in a unicorn onesie and another in a very intricate tiger costume. He swatted at the one in the onesie, but his classmate dodged nimbly aside and laughed. The tiger gave him a thumbs up and hollered, “You got this, bro!”

The masked stranger looked like he was going to protest, but the photographer came up and took a photo of him. With a shout, the stranger staggered back from the flash and into the table behind him.

Getting up, the stranger looked ready to throttle the smaller boy, but the noise of a microphone being turned on whined through the air and the Principal -who was dressed in a witch’s costume- started talking, “Hello and Happy Halloween, Sheffield Institute! It’s time for the costume contest winner to be announced! The winner will get the honor of lighting the pumpkin donated to us by a local farm!”

She strode over to the stranger, who was still shaking his head after the microphone had pierced the air, “And by unanimous vote, we have our winner!”

She grasped his arm and led his stumbling form to the pumpkin. He said something as she set down the microphone and picked up the torch and she replied.

He snapped and swatted the torch out of her hands and she backed up as the crowd shouted.

Will could just barely make out, “So if you aren’t Samson, then who are you?!” before the pumpkin, having been struck by the torch and caught fire, exploded.

* * *

Taranee was in the middle of a disaster. She should be terrified. She should be screaming and crying right now, but she just felt eerily calm as a dull roar echoed in her ears. Fireworks splattered everywhere -partygoers scattering in panic around her, trying to get away.

One errant roman candle burst, almost in slow motion towards where Irma had backed up against a wall. In that one desperate moment, Taranee wanted nothing more than to make the firework miss. Suddenly, a feeling like something snapping awake panged in her chest and she felt a peculiar tingling sensation running down her spine as she threw her arm out. It hummed in her fingertips and in her head and she heard herself shout as the flare curved upwards and into the sky.

Before she could process the unbelievable sight, it crashed back down into the pumpkin, setting off a massive burst of flame.

She felt her body moving before she even thought about it, taking a quick step and then another to where Will had tripped and fallen, her breath feeling like smoke on her tounge and the tingling in her body smoothing out into a warm buzz. Her hands extended and flame billowed around them, a wall of heat washing across her, but not hot enough to truly burn.

In another instant it had dyed down, the miraculous event concluding like it never happened.

But it did.

A janitor rushed over with a fire extinguisher and worked on putting out the remaining blaze as Taranee helped Will to her feet- the both of them staring wide-eyed at Taranee’s hands.

Taranee whispered in disbelief, “Did… Did I do that?”

Will still had a deathgrip on Taranee’s arm and had no response as Cornelia strode over and began hovering.

The warm buzzing, however, returned slightly after she had asked and a feeling like a long and very _large_ cat curling up after momentarily stirring settled in her chest.

It didn’t feel like it  _ really _ went back to sleep.

* * *

Lord Cedric sat watching the carnage from the fire escape with his mission partner.

“Well,  _ that _ was a fiasco.”

Lord Cedric tucked a long strand of hair behind his head and replied, “Hmm, not entirely Vathek. We achieved our main objective.”

Vathek flexed his big blue claws, “It’s too bad The Guardians didn’t show up. I could have done with a good fight.”

Lord Cedric sighed, wishing his assigned bodyguard had been someone who bothered to read his papers, “Your math is off. This world’s time may crawl terribly slow compared to ours, but The Guardians would be old women by now or dead.”

He then recalled the peculiar way the fire warped around the little girls who had been near the final blast- how not a  _ single person _ had been seriously injured.

“Or,” He began, standing up and looking at the yard where little knots of children huddled in the perfectly unsinged swath of grass on the lawn, “Or... we’re facing a new cycle.”

* * *

That night Irma dreamt of clouds and rain and mountains. She dreamt of an old man in gold with cruel eyes and twisting, winding shapes in the sky. She dreamt of Hay Lin, in her Halloween costume, the billowing fabric swaying in the wind. And she dreamt of a bright pink light.

Within that bright pink light was an amulet, and all the confusion and fear melted away.

Something within her purred, contented at the sight, so she took another step forward and-

“What happened next?”

In the courtyard of the school two days later, Irma’s usual crew plus the new kids Will and Taranee had gathered, listening as Irma tried to describe the bizarre lucid dream she had dreamt the night previous.

Irma shrugged, “Then the alarm went off.”

The Halloween fiasco _ somehow _ didn’t get reported in the non-school newspaper or put on TV, but it had left its mark all the same.

The gym had been ‘closed for repairs’ and a check of the security cameras had put Uriah’s gang as the people behind the explosion. They had weaseled out of most of the punishment -it was deemed a ‘miscalculation about the type of fireworks turning a fun sparkly surprise into a horrible accident’ rather than intentional terrorizing, but they were still being required to pick up their mess.

Will shifted and spoke up, “Your dream kind of sounds like the one I had last night, too actually. It’s kinda weird.”

Hay Lin, finishing up drawing something on her palm, asked, “Did the amulet look something like this?”

She extended her palm, and right there on her hand was a rough but horribly accurate doodle of an orb with points on both ends and curves of filigree enclosing it.

Irma sucked a breath in sharply, “ _Shit_ , yeah it does! How’d you know?”

Hay Lin shrugged, “Easy, I saw it in my dreams too!”

Taranee, having been getting steadily more uncomfortable throughout the whole conversation finally burst out, “STOP IT! This- All of this, The dreams, the accidents, the fire at the party,  _ what’s going on _ ?!”

Cornelia then cut in, “That’s what I want to find out. We need to talk over this and go over what we know, but not _here_ and not now.”

She flicked her gaze around the school courtyard, and Irma was firmly reminded of both the impending bell and how in the open they were.

Hay Lin picked up her bag and nodded, “Cornelia’s right! How about we meet at my house after school? My grandma does dream interpretation sometimes!”

Will shrugged, “Fine by me!”

Taranee fiddled with the strap of her bag, “I’ll have to call my dad, but I’ll go!”

Irma leaned on Hay Lin’s shoulder, “You know I’m good to go!”

Cornelia gave a thumbs up and whipped out her cell phone to text her parents as Elyon shifted, “I… Don’t know if I’ll be there.”

Irma perked up, “Oh? Did you actually get a study lesson from Mr. Senior?”

Elyon gave a shy smile, “Yeah! He’s fascinating, and he actually graduated a year ago? His name’s Cedric and he said he was bringing his senior friend to the party and the school made an exception about students only. He works at a bookshop and he said he’d help me for an hour or so after school tomorrow!”

Irma fake-yawned, “Bookshop date! Just thinking about it makes me yawn!”

Elyon stuck her tongue out, “You’re just jealous!”

Irma deadpanned, “Is it that obvious?”

Cornelia slung an arm over Elyon’s shoulders and laughed gently as the first bell rang, “Don’t worry about it Elyon. We’d be the last people to try to stop you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elyon’s very mild innuendo is canon to the first edition english comic version.
> 
> The way the kids don’t blink at Elyon's 19+ year old date is because Sometimes Teens Are Stupid About That.  
> In addition- its not an actual date, it’s studying, so even the people who would 100% know that it’s creepy for an adult to agree to a date a young teen are only going to try to intervene if it seems like Cedric is interested right back, rather than pity-tutoring while working a slow shift at a secondhand bookshop.
> 
> Also, when you or your friends are in a bad/unsafe situation, it doesn’t seem nearly as messed up. Because, see, bad things don’t happen to _you_. They just happen on TV and on the news.
> 
> And yes, Vathek DID get shoved around by a brony and a furry. These background characters are also dating because I said so.
> 
> Lastly, I wanted to add that the concept of being made to be friends the way the guardians are in canon _wigs me the hell out_. I changed it a little, so that it’s more of a semi-ignorable feeling adjacent to a crush rather than ‘you are just automatically friends because Kandrakar can make it so’. That way they may develop their friendship organically, even if they have a pull towards one another.


	5. All Of Eternity In A Single Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The passing of the guard and a tale as old as time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I tried to balance exposition so it doesn’t drag on forever but also feels like Yan Lin really tried to give them all the useful information like a responsible person would.  
> In doing so I realized that the only way to convey it the way I wanted to would be a comic, so. You get illustrations in a style I usually don't use. Appreciate the 10+ hours I spent on them, if nothing else please.  
> A03 ate the quality, but you can find them somewhere in my DA account's W.I.T.C.H. folder @ Xhri
> 
> A lot of the dialogue was lifted from the comics and given a shiny new coat of paint.

Will sat at Hay Lin’s dining room table after school and nervously drummed her fingers on the side of her mug. Beside her, Irma was adding another spoonful of sugar to her tea. Cornelia had added a splash of cream, Taranee was drinking it straight, and Hay Lin was adding a generous squeeze of honey to hers.

Will had put one spoonful of sugar herself- not minding the ‘grass flavor’ of tea but still having a massive sweet tooth.

“So.”  Cornelia began.

“So,” Hay Lin repeated back.

Cornelia look a long sip of her tea and continued, “What do all of you think is going on?”

Irma shrugged, “Does there _have_ to be a reason for all of this?”

Cornelia crossed her arms, “I want to reiterate that I don’t believe in spiritual phenomena.”

Hay Lin countered, “Then what do you call what’s happening to us?”

Cornelia started to respond, but paused. She started again, and paused again before huffing and putting her finger back down.

Irma popped a cookie that she had been soaking in her tea into her mouth and answered flippantly, “Puberty.”   
Hay Lin snorted and shook her head, “Besides the shared dreams, Irma’s jedi mind trick testing, and Taranee’s fire thing, is there any other weird things anyone wants to share?”

Will bit her lip before responding, "I punched a wall about a month and a half ago and all the lights in the building tripped."

“There was moss growing in the fuse box English class two days ago,” Cornelia seemed surprised she even spoke up, “It caused the power to go out in that section when I was hoping for class to end. That was just a coincidence I’m  _ sure _ , but…”

Irma finished, “But that’s one hell of a coincidence. Didn’t know you had it in you to cancel a class.”

Cornelia shot back, “ _ I _ didn’t do anything!, she paused for a second, “I didn’t  _ mean _ to do anything!”

She momentarily seemed less sure of that statement before doubling down.

“Magic isn’t real. But I can’t deny that  _ something _ is happening.”

There was a moment of silence before Hay Lin pulled out one of her many sketchbooks.

Said girl flipped it open and said, “That thing we all dreamed about, I sketched it better, Here!”

She placed the drawing on the table, and staring back was the perfectly accurate amulet, right down to the shape of the filigree.

Irma crunched another cookie, “Well shit. That's it right there.”

Taranee quietly agreed as Will stared transfixed at the drawing.

Hay Lin looked towards Cornelia, “You saw it too, right? Does it match for you?”

Cornelia ground out, “It doesn’t prove anything, some celebrity was probably wearing something like it, dreams don’t have to be some magic thing.”

_That's a yes from Cornelia_ , Will though distantly before remembering she was supposed to respond.

“Yeah. You captured it perfectly!”

Suddenly an accented, reedy voice cut through the atmosphere, “But perhaps this is what you are looking for.”

Will whipped around and there was Hay Lin’s grandma ( _who introduced herself as Yan Lin when they came in_ ), holding the pendant that was haunting their dreams.

Hay Lin started in surprise, “Grandma?!”

Yan Lin stepped closer with the pendant.

Will stammered, “That- That’s it! Where did you get it?”

Yan Lin sighed, “That is a long story girls, but one you need to hear.”

Cornelia screwed her face up in confusion, “Wha-”

Before she could finish, Yan Lina snapped her fingers and all at once, the room around them disappeared. Instead, there was simply a white void.

  


Yan Lin spoke again as the white space slowly faded back into the dining room of Hay Lin’s home.

“This crystal is called the Heart of Kandrakar, and you, children, are the next incarnations of The Guardians Of The Infinite Worlds, as I was one once before you. It calls to you, because it is now yours. Your magic is awakening, and you must learn to control it.”

She then pointed a finger at Irma, who stared wide-eyed at it, “You are the Guardian of Water, Irma, playful and ever-changing.”

“You Taranee,” She continued, “Have the difficult gift of Fire.”

Then she turned to Cornelia, who looked like she had just eaten a live eel, “Stubborn, Loyal Cornelia, you are of Earth.”

Then she gave a small smile to Hay Lin, “And you, my wonderful granddaughter, are Air.”

Then she turned to Will, “Lastly, we have she who binds them all together, and wields the fifth element of Quintessence. Hold out your hand, Will.”

Will extended her palm hesitantly, and Yan Lin promptly dropped the Heart into it. 

Instead of simply laying upon her skin, in a flash of light, the crystal fell  _ into _ her hand. Energy coursed through her body and lit up every nerve. The world fell away and all she could feel was the crystal humming within her, now just incorporeal energy waiting to be summoned as a physical object again and  _ used _ .

Her palm tingled as the sensation faded, and when she opened her eyes and looked at it, a faint white stylized symbol of the Heart was marked upon it.

Her new friends around her looked just as awestruck and confused as she felt.

They had planned on just speculating about ghosts or something, not something like  _ this _ .

Yan Lin then smiled -somewhere between happy and sad- and said, “Congratulations.”

Hay Lin burst out, “But! Why tell us now, Grandma!? Why us even!?”

Yan Lin sighed, “Kandrakar forbids telling those of Earth not in the know about magic without due cause, wishing to let it fade into obscurity after the fiasco with that Emperor. Until the awakening ceremony that happened the day before Halloween, it was technically unconfirmed that you were going to be the next Guardians, and therefore I could not.”

She spread her hands, “The dragons have their own reasons for choosing who they choose, if they even actually choose us at all, all Kandrakar does is wake them up when either they turn seventeen, or, like with you, they are needed.”

Yan Lin cast her gaze over the five of them, “Fifteen years ago, on a single night, the far away world of Meridian was cast into chaos. The Queen was slain and Prince Phobos stole the throne, swiftly draining the magic out of the world and plunging it into darkness. The heir to the throne and Heart of Meridian was spirited away to Earth, so Prince Phobos turned his gaze here. Fearing Prince Phobos would not stop at just his own world and wishing to keep magic a secret here, Kandrakar put up a barrier called The Veil around Meridian. The Veil prevents travel between the two worlds, but The Veil is weakening as Meridian cries out for its missing heart, and now errant rifts called portals are appearing randomly in the fabric of spacetime.”

Yan Lin snatched a cookie off of the plate, “It is your duty to close the portals for now, to buy time until you are ready and able to recover the Heart of Meridian -which Meridianites call The Light- and face Phobos.”

She bit into the cookie and chewed before speaking again, “I suggest you learn how to use your powers before the agents of Prince Phobos find you first, for they will seek you out, as threats to Prince Phobos’ rule.”

Finishing the cookie, she gave a parting remark into the stunned silence, “Now I must go for now, so I hope that answered your questions, but if not, you are all welcome here anytime, and I will be back soon!”

Will shook herself out of her stunned stupor as Yan Lin exited the room and jumped out of her seat, “Wait! Don’t-”

Will rounded the corner, “Go?”

The corridor was empty.

There was a moment of silence, before Irma said flatly, “What the  _ fuck  _ just happened.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Irma gets the first F-bomb. They’re teens, they can swear, and Irma deserved that one.
> 
> I combined the dragon story in here with the original first-issue exposition because it’s more relevant than in canon.
> 
> Transcript of the comics:
> 
> "Before time began, there was Kandrakar, the first universe. Its native denizens were creatures of pure magic and existed peacefully.  
> Then, another universe was born, and with it, a planet much like ours."  
> "The beings of Kandrakar Traveled to this planet and communed with is people-  
> some of the strongest even took mortal forms of mass to properly interact with them."  
> "Then from this world, Kandrakar's denizens learned evil- they wished to destroy instead of create and planned to tear all that is asunder.  
> Many more universes had come into being by then, and what followed was a long and bloody war spanning all of them.  
> The beings that still loved life and creation then forced back all those that had chosen evil that they could find into a mirror dimension and sealed them away."  
> "That first new universe was destroyed and remade in the war and became ours.  
> deciding to prevent such horrors from happening again, the beings found worthy people from across the multiverse to help them moderate- bringing them to Kandrakar.  
> The beings that still loved interacting with other worlds, and so they kept visiting ours as humans evolved.  
> Hay Lin, do you remember the Legend of The Four Dragons? Well, for the rest of you, the four strongest beings were dragons. Each controlled an element-  
> Water, Fire, Earth, And Air."  
> "They were powered by a wellspring of magic- one each world has. They called theirs The Heart Of Kandrakar.  
> One day, the dragons saw a country suffering in drought, so they asked the Incarnation of Earth's heart to send rain.  
> He refused and dismissed them from his sight.  
> The red dragon then got the idea that they could use the sea and do it themselves.  
> The White dragon boiled the seawater into steam, which the Red and Black dragon whipped into cloud vapor.  
> Meanwhile, the Yellow dragon flew tirelessly from one village to the next to spread word of the storm."  
> "Earth's heart, outraged over the disrespect the dragons showed, made four mountains swallow them up so they could never go around his rule again.  
> The Emperor's daughter, Xin Jing, however, was sympathetic to their plight. She knew the dragons had save the country.  
> She faced her father and declared, "Your cruelty is only matched by your ignorance!"  
> Xin Jing then stole away to the mountains where the dragons had been Imprisoned."  
> "There she communed with the dragons and asked them how she could help free them.  
> They told her their mortal forms were fading, and no matter how deep she dug, she would not be able to set them free before they would die.  
> Them dying would leave All That Is undefended.  
> The only way they could survive would be to reconvert to pure energy and fuse to her very being.  
> This, they warned, would change her irrevocably.  
> Xin Jing stood firm and agreed- she had no real purpose before, but now she did.  
> And so, she then absorbed their essence and TRANSFORMED in a blaze of energy."  
> "The dragon's bodies then Transformed into underground springs that would keep the country from suffering in drought like it did.  
> There in her spirit, she carried the Presences of the Four Dragons to Kandrakar.  
> The beings that lived there created a spell that would allow them to incarnate into the forms of the humans they loved.  
> Xin Jing found her friends again, after a fashion, and taught their hosts how to wield the power of the dragons within them. But the forms the dragons held were now mortal, and she was not."  
> "They rebirthed again, but she knew she could not take another cycle. She then weaved a new spell, one that would make herself incarnate with them.  
> Worried about how they would do without her guidance, she left behind a crystal pendant that would give future cycles an easier focal point for their power."


	6. On the Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb makes his escape

Caleb jogged at a steady pace through the new-growth forest. The underbrush was low enough to provide cover for his form, but it slowed him down quite a bit. He could not afford to be caught, but he also couldn’t allow for the guards to chase Aldarn instead, so he did not take to the thicker part of the woods to lose them.

He heard the baying of a search-hound, and bit back a curse.

At least he didn’t have to worry about them giving up and going after Aldarn instead, now.

He adamantly didn’t consider the possibility that the guards had split up and gone after them both.

With a hound after him and scenting his trail better than any Galhot ever could, he knew he had to get creative.

This forest had grown up in the old fairgrounds that had been since abandoned one hundred years ago, when Phobos assumed the throne. Phobos should have been a decrepit old man by now, but reports stated he was as young as he was when he took control. ‘ _Some foul magic keeps him youthful_ ,’ Aldarn’s father had said to Caleb when he asked about it long ago, ‘ _You would do well not to learn of such things, child._ ’

He knew the forest would soon give way to the Aristocratic District, and then he would have better odds.

Panting heavily, he spied the canal up ahead as the sound of barking and shouting got louder. He would have to jump it.

Caleb sprinted the distance and aimed for the lantern that extended from the edge so boats could see at night, it was lit, but a small burn would be better than dog teeth.

His gloved fingers closed around hot metal and gained purchase as his boots splashed a little in the water. The torchlight wavered, but no hot coals rained down on him.

Yes! He had made it. Grunting with effort and minding the creaking of the metal that was not meant to hold his weight, he hauled himself up and grasped the curb.

The shouting became clearer behind him and he knew he had to hurry before someone shot him with an arrow or threw a spear.

He managed to get one aching leg up over the curb just as the lanterns thin metal support buckled. Ha!

He crawled and stumbled to his feet before hurriedly ducking into an alleyway. The guards and the dogs had to find the bridge, so he had time to change out of his wet clothes at the nearest bolthole.

The aristocrats didn’t like Phobos much either- he didn’t like to share his power and many of the places the aristocrats had once gotten their wealth had started to dry up. Crops were always struggling, the mines were becoming more dangerous, the fish were often scarce and required going further out to sea.

His father had always said that it was because Meridian’s Light was missing, taken far away to another world so Phobos couldn’t have it. Have _Her_.

Caleb looked at the bright glow and orange swirls of Carabos in the sky above him- nearly setting now it was well past midnight. There was a storm brewing on the surface. That meant trouble- he had best start moving.

As a child, he had been required to memorize the location of every safehouse for The Rebellion in the capitol- his father was a major leader of The Rebellion and should he be captured or killed, Caleb needed to be able to get to safety. Later, as a full member and then leader, he had been required to learn the location of every major safehouse out to the swamps and all the important places of the catacombs beneath. It was dangerous information, but Caleb would rather die than let it fall into Phobos’ hands.

He slinked up the slope, quietly hopping roofs and slinking around side streets. It was still a while before dawn, but guards and bakers and many Galhot who had refused to conform to the standard diurnal schedule still walked during the blackness of early morning. Turning into another alley, barely wide enough for him to walk through, he slid down it and pressed the third graffiti engraving of a star. The wall in front of him turned into a door and he walked through.

It led to a steep set of stairs, and Caleb descended them quickly.

This was one of the many entrances to the Infinite City- catacombs that stretched under the earth farther than had been mapped, and had a deep, wild magic that occasionally changed the way the paths went. It was the original dwellings of the Galhot before they had started to build upon the surface like the Escanor, and now the hideout of the rebels.

The Infinite City was the domain of The Mage, a mysterious old woman with vast magical skill who took all who wished for sanctuary from Phobos into her lair. She had added many a failsafe and protection to the entrances and hallways of her domain.

It had hundreds of years of magic impressed into its walls and it was like a second home to Caleb- though he had never been in this particular part of it.

With a fortifying breath, he knocked on the door to the opening notes to an old working song.

After a moment, a eye hole slid open.

“Password?”

Caleb replied exasperatedly to the green Galhot’s appallingly fake country accent, “You know me Droux.”

Droux narrowed his eyes, “Password or Death.”

Caleb put his hands up, “Ok, ok- ‘ _The Light still shines despite the fear_.’”

There were many passwords, but he had used the general urgent one- a line from a poem written in the early days of Phobos’ reign. Droux nodded and the door swung open. There before Caleb in a small entryway room was Droux standing on a small crate.

Droux closed the door behind him and explained -fake accent gone, “Can’t ever be too sure an enemy Skinshifter wasn’t skulking in a comrades form. There's a few in Phobos’ service, and one of the ones who had made a name for himself disappeared from public eye about a week and a half ago.”

A sobering thought.

Droux adjusted his cravat, “So what brings you here, Caleb?”

Caleb removed his precious cargo, “Earlier tonight, A comrade and I broke into The Castle.”

Droux hissed in surprise, “By Carabos, _why_?!”

Caleb opened the box, “I’m the only one who could, and it was good that we did, I recovered a map of all the compromised safehouses, a pretty accurate one of Torus Finley, a substantial amount of flashpowder, and a few good weapons. I was followed, but I managed to duck down here without being seen. Also, do you recognize where this is?”

Droux made an inquiring noise and curled his tail in question as Caleb removed the map of the unknown location.

He squinted, and after a moment his tail drooped, “No. I don’t think this is of anywhere in the capitol, and it’s too well developed to be anywhere else. Are you sure it’s an accurate map? The denseness of the buildings and the size of them indicates a very wealthy city, but it looks like it’s on the eastern coast, and the eastern coast on our continent is largely cliffs!”

Caleb shook his head as he quickly removed his outerwear and the spare weapons, “I don’t know. But we _do_ know Phobos has been planning something big for awhile now, and there’s stirrings of getting the castle ready for something from our spies.”

Droux sat down on a stool and tapped his talons on a small stray table, “They could be planning a hit on the Torus Finley rebels, they have been pretty active as of late- almost as active as your unit.”

Caleb unlaced his soggy boots and set them next to the hearth- of which burned with a smokeless, magical fire, “I don’t think that would be what is making him prepare the castle, though, but we should warn that group of a possible raid anyway.”

Droux uncorked a bottle of ink and produced a quill from his pocket, “Shall I code it into the paper in my usual article or would you prefer a letter?”

Caleb, having finished unpeeling his socks from his feet and stripped down to his underclothes- a thin pair of pants and t-shirt designed to keep sweat off of his harder to properly wash outer wear- replied, “Definitely the paper- the more people who know about it the better, and the letter seems more suspicious.”

Droux was one of the writers for the newspaper that was printed in the capitol, and regularly wrote a side article about the zodiac and how the movements of the stars affected one’s life. It was entirely hogwash meant to amuse the upper class with fake mundane magic and everyone knew it. Therefore it was the perfect disguise for passing information.

Droux scrawled a quick note to himself and then looked up. He blinked, “Ah- there are clothes that should fit you in the chest to the right, you can leave yours here and come back for them later, I’ll wash them for you.”

Caleb smiled, “Thank you, friend. You can add the other maps and the extra weapons to the resistance’s resources, I need to remeet with Aldarn, and the faster these get to the rest of the rebels, the better.”

Droux made a pleased chuffing nose and said, “I wish you all the luck, but what do you intend on doing with the odd map? You don’t think...”

Caleb started swiftly pulling on the borrowed clothes, “Whatever it is, it’s important, and judging by the quality of the other maps, it’s _accurate_. I’m going back out and see if I can’t get more information. If I can find this place, maybe we can learn more about what it is Phobos is planning.

Droux nodded solemnly, “Stay safe, Caleb. May the Star Owl guide you and keep you safe.”

Caleb finished pulling on the clothes(slightly fancier than his usual wear), then tied his still-damp scarf around his face to not show off his characteristic green scars, and grimaced before putting his still-soggy boots on.

After he was dressed, he then gave a small salute, touching his fingers across his now covered nose and lips before splaying his palm out in Droux’s direction. Droux repeated it- touching his own long snout.

Caleb then reholistered the one weapon he was keeping -the sword- under his borrowed thin overcoat, and returned the shortsword that he had borrowed for the mission to the pilfered weapons pile. Time to go.

The second exit from the Infinite City was in the canal, but in a wider section- coming out near to the berth and allowing one to simply blend into the crowd.

He located it fairly quickly and exited, looking like simply yet another young Escanor tradesman coming to bargain in the marketplace. It was now just after dawn, and the feeling of pulling an all-nighter was creeping up on him, but he had to persevere.

He made his way to the other entrance to The City, hoping to find the guards who had chased him in order to eavesdrop. Carefully, he picked up a broom and swept the street near the alleyway -pretending to be an employee cleaning the front of their store while listening for the clanking of armor.

Then he heard it, “The intruder’s scent disappeared down that dead end over there, I think we lost ‘em.”

A second voice snarled, “Keep looking. I got word the thief caused enough damage for Phobos to _personally_ want that rebel brought before him. We’ll be repairing for _weeks_ to patch that hole.”

Caleb carefully kept himself from tensing, Phobos _specifically_ wanted him? What are the odds it really was just for blowing a hole and stealing some maps that anyone working in the castle had probably seen already? Forcing himself to not think on it further, he continued to listen.

“Ugh. It’s a good thing Lord Cedric is gone or we’d _never_ get any sleep because he’d want to one-up Sir Ludmoore in making some fancy new concrete and together they’d make us do the damn job over six times because it ‘isn’t good enough!’”

The first soldier coughed, “Where did he go, anyway?”

The second soldier was happy to flex his knowledge, “I heard he went on a special mission to retrieve something or someone from Earth with guard captain Vathek!”

The first soldier exclaimed, “Earth? _Really_?”

Rounding the corner to where Caleb was, the second soldier huffed, “Yes, but keep it down-”

“ _Woah_ boy!”

The dog suddenly lunged and barked and wagged his tail at the sight of Caleb, and he knew he had been outed by its nose.

The two soldiers zeroed in on him and Caleb, tossing the broom at the dog, shot off through the streets.

There was a stable with hūgongs just down the street, and Caleb knew that he would stand a much better chance of outrunning the soldiers if he took one. Turning the corner, a stable hand was leading a wiry looking one into the pen.

Perfect!

Caleb snatched the reigns from the surprised stablehand and hopped aboard, making the bird squawk with the sharp yank of its reigns and dart down the street- away from the dog. He hollered a cheeky, “Thanks for the ride!” behind him as he jumped a ledge and urged the bird onward.

All was well, and Caleb almost was ready to congratulate himself for another job well done, when he turned and saw the characteristic shape of Frost The Hunter behind him.

He must have been in the stable! Damn it!

His bird warbled nervously and it’s terribly short feelers twitched. Caleb had always preferred the strain with long feelers, that way they were easily guideable even without a set of tack, but the short-feeler breed favored by the army was bred to be a lot harder to startle, and Caleb was currently very grateful for that -Frost’s unique beast was mighty frightening.

With a curse, he tugged his bird into a tight sidestreet, startling a few noblewomen as Frost slid and crashed into a fence. It seemed Frost couldn’t make quick turns on his charging menace.

Caleb smirked. He knew just the route to take, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ref for Caleb;  
>   
> Ref for Droux, an OC of mine;  
>   
> Also Hūgongs are now basically chocobos, and Frost’s rhino is also now a Hūgong for logistics reasons.  
> Additionally, I’m using hūgong instead of hoogong because it looks So Much Better, even if it take a hilarious amount of effort to insert the line because my keyboard doesn’t support it.


	7. Sleep-Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardians Awaken

Cornelia didn’t believe in magic. She believed in the things she could see and touch and the logical reasoning behind the laws governing the natural world.

But earlier today she saw a full color illusion that was most definitely no lightshow, no projection, and no hallucination.

She had watched Will stare dumbly at her palm as she repeatedly resummoned and dismissed the pendant from their shared dreams for a good few seconds before rounding on Hay Lin -who put her hands up and immediately and said, “I didn’t know about this! I swear! But it does actually _really_ explain a lot.”

Cornelia shot back, hands gripping the table so hard her knuckles were turning white, “Magic isn’t real!”

Irma huffed, “ _Well_ , Sherlock? What do you call that vision? Or the thing Will’s doing right now? Or half a billion other things that happened recently?”

Will froze with The Heart floating above her palm and stared like a deer in headlights.

Cornelia gritted her teeth.

She just.

She just couldn’t accept _magic_ as the reason any of this was happening, and that _bullshit_ story? They aren’t anything special, and certainly not _dragons_ . Because if she accepted magic as the answer everything would fall apart, nothing would make sense! She wasn’t a _child_ who just accepted magic when asked. Rules were necessary, how else could you know what was True? The notion itched and burned and she _absolutely couldn’t take this right now_.

Standing up abruptly she took a long calming breath and said in as even a tone as possible, “I don’t believe in magic-”

Irma, who had gotten up and filled a cup with water cut in, “Yeah? Watch this!”

She slashed her hand out and a bubble of water flew out of the cup, defying all laws of gravity and splashed her in the face instead of the ink a few inches over.

She growled, threw her hands up in the air, and grabbed her stuff.

Hay Lin called out as she got up to leave, “There's a towel hung on the stove to wipe your face off!”

Cornelia begrudgingly used it and folded it properly, as per the _rules_ of using stuff at other people’s houses.

Grabbing her coat and shoes she exited the house.

 _I’m going home to where things make_ _sense_ _!_

* * *

Hay Lin said into the silence of Cornelia stalking off, “Don’t worry, give her time to think it over by herself and she’ll come around!””

Cornelia always did.

Hay Lin desperately wanted to sit down and think about what she had just learned, but there was something more important to do first.

She drained her cup of tea as Irma glanced back and forth between the cup and where Cornelia left, “Did you guys just see what I did? I did magic! I _wanted_ the water to move and it _moved_!”

Hay Lin, totally ignoring Irma, chirped, “So we need to get together and learn what we can do! Can everyone gather at the abandoned construction site up by the bottle redemption center tomorrow?”

After some clarifications on directions, Will and Taranee agreed, and Irma professed she was ready anytime, anywhere to get wet and wild.

Hay Lin halfheartedly tossed a throw pillow at her as Irma cackled.

“But no really I have no complaints about this new superhero gig. What about you?”

Hay Lin hummed.

She didn’t really know what she she felt about it, really. It felt like it was meant to be, what she _was born for_. Something resonated within her each time she saw The Heart and now she knew what she could do, she didn’t really _want_ much of anything else. She already knew she would be inheriting the restaurant from her grandmother and her father- why not inherit a second, more secret job from her?

Will shrugged, “Well it beats what I thought I was going to do with my life.”

Taranee picked at her fingernails and said, “Well… it sounds scary, but I…”

She steeled herself, “I think the alternative of what would happen if all of that was true and we didn’t try to do our supposed jobs would be worse.”

Smiling, Hay Lin verbally added in her two cents, “And _I_ think it will at least be interesting!”

* * *

Caleb took another sharp turn and sent Frost into a building.

He had done something like this several times in the last few heartracing minutes, but Frost and his beast barely even flinched.

He had heard stories about Frost- the galhot-escanor hybrid had _earned_ his right to the title of ‘The Hunter’. He was very, _very_ good at running down and killing people. To date, every person he and his monster of a hūgong had been publicly tasked to hunting down had been somehow killed or captured. The creature he rode was several hands taller than even the biggest working breed of hūgong and its serrated beak had a helmet secured to it that gave it its signature sharp horn to gore things with. It was additionally blue in color and had a taste for violence.

Whatever hellhole the thing had come from should _take it back_ , he thought venomously.

He could only ride and hope for a miracle.

* * *

Cornelia sat alone in her room.

The first thing she had done when she got home was methodically complete each homework assignment- waving to her mother who didn’t even look up as she strode straight to her room.

After the brain-numbing repetition of physics worksheets and reading a chapter of her history textbook, she had calmed down some.

With a sigh she put away her homework and stared at the mess that was her room.

She knew where everything was- everything had a place, even if it wasn’t ‘clean’ by her mother’s standards.

Every available surface was covered in piled things, and there were three stacks of clothes on the floor. One dirty, one clean, and one that was for clothes that were not quite either. Sometimes the clean clothes got put away, but not the often-worn ones.

If she used the clothes a lot, why put them in the drawers when the floor would suffice? Why put specific notebooks back in their drawer when she was just going to pull them back out soon enough?

She had a system and it _worked_ and she could find _everything_.

It had structure and rules and reason to it!

It was functionally clean, anyways!

Everything was neatly stacked! She vacuumed and dusted weekly and all the trash made it to the waste basket.

Everything here made sense.

Not like-

Cornelia clenched her hands.

Alright.

Cornelia closed her eyes and sat up straight. Resting her hands on her knees, she forcibly counted out loud in her head in time with each inhale.

One. Two. Three-

The image of the pendant -The Heart Of Kandrakar- vividly flashed in front of her eyes. She pushed it firmly away.

FOUR, FIVE, SIX-

She was reminded of the phantom heat of the fire that Taranee divert- luckily avoided, as the furnace kicked on. She yet again firmly shoved the thought out of her thinking-space.

SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, ELEVEN, TWELVE, THIRTEEN-

She just wanted peace and quiet and answers and calm and she was just so frustrated with everything the last few days had dumped on her-

She felt the singularity peculiar sensation of having her eyes both closed and blinking open- and simultaneously saw-and-not-saw a very foggy area before her with a massive shape uncurling and yawning.

The Gold Dragon’s eyes blinked open and a vivid acid green looked into hers for just a moment before she jolted out of her seat and fell to the floor.

A thrumm in her head started up, like a very large, very _loud_ cat purring.

It shivered down her spine as she staggered to her feet and ended up by the window, her hand gripping the rim of a potted plant.

A feeling like her own thoughts, but not quite- a slow, idle curiosity.

The curiosity locks onto the plant she was grasping and the feeling like a phantom muscle moving happened again.

The houseplant, before her eyes, grew a small bud and flowered.

The curiosity turned into satisfaction and the purring increased into a almost audible noise.

Cornelia sprung back from the plant, heart rate rapidly rising- the not-noise, the hallucinations, the literal unexplained _magic_ -

The Feeling turned toward alarm and the purring stopped.

It focused and coalesced into a distinct presence- dropping clear ideas-and-image into her thoughts in a way that was totally foreign.

**:shhhh cub, safefine not-alone:**

‘ _That’s the problem!_ ’, Cornelia thought hysterically.

She was literally going crazy! This week had done her in and now she was hearing not-voices and having thoughts that weren’t _hers_!

The Feeling felt like it drew closer, **:Body healthy, Mind fine. We-Us Real. Safefine. Why-upset?:**

Cornelia stared up at her ceiling, gathered the snarly little ball of every single thing that went against the natural order of things and shoved it at the mindreading dragon _hallucination_.

And she couldn’t even assume the cookies were drugged with LSD or whatever because she already knew drugs _didn’t work like that_ and she had been dreaming about dragons before today.

The Feeling settled down and then not-spoke again, **:Believe seen-touched-tasted things? Seen-touch-tasted Magic! Follow-rules!:**

Cornelia grit her teeth.

Now she was being sassed by a voice in her head!

**:Self-Helping!:**

Cornelia mentally imagined shoving the hallucinatory presence hovering not-behind her. _No you aren’t!_ Great. Now she was _talking_ to it!

She staunchly ignored how it showing up and bothering her had distracted her into snappiness instead of the impending existential crisis.

**:Rude Cub!:**

_Rude dragon!_

The Presence sent the impression of waving its tail, **:Not-crazy! Self-Dragon, Cub said!:**

Cornelia never asked to be rules-lawyered by a _hallucinatory_ dragon.

The Presence chuffed and sulkily curled up in the back of her thoughts.

**:Rude Cub, go eat!:**

Cornelia threw up her hands and stalked downstairs. She was going to remember get around to that! ( _Eventually_ )

One of The Presence’s floppy ears twitched and it snorted.

**:When Sun Sat Maybe:**

What will make you go away!?

The Presence rolled onto its back. **:Death. Will-Of-Kandrakar. New cub-host.:**

Cornelia mumbled under her breath as she reheated leftover ziti bake, “Then _get_ a new one.”

The Presence made a small growl that was quite a bit more intimidating than any noise it had made so far, **:Staying!:**

Why did this have to happen to _her_?!

* * *

The next day saw Cornelia grudgingly sitting on a concrete block after Hay Lin flopped on her during break and asked if she wanted to come to the area out behind the bottle redemption center now that she had time to think about it.

She had pushed her off gently and bit out a “Fine.”

The probably not hallucinatory dragon in her head had wiggled with glee as Hay Lin did the same.

“Don’t get too excited,” she said to both of them, “I still think there's a _rational_ explanation for all of this.”

Hay Lin giggled as The Golden Menace chuffed quietly, “The rational explanation is magic!”

Cornelia crossed her arms, “I meant a scientific one.”

Just then Elyon had jogged over, “Hey guys! Did you come to a conclusion during the meeting yesterday?”

Cornelia replied, “No.” at the same time Hay Lin replied, “Cosmic Shenanigans!”

Hay Lin pouted at her, “Cornelia’s just being difficult. But, oh! Oh! What happened with Cedric?!”

Elyon had clasped her hands together and gushed, “Oh he was so great! I learned so much and I remember everything he quizzed me on! He’s so smart! He even invited me to come back and hang out in the bookshop he works at if I wanted!”

Cornelia smiled and congratulated her, making a note to herself to pop in sometime and _gently interrogate_ this Cedric.

The Golden Menace had whuffed and proclaimed **:will remind! stalk-threaten Flight interloper!:** before Cornelia stood up to get to class.

Even if it was of the same opinion as her as to what to do, she wished it would stay quiet when she was talking to people.

**:Earth-Self Thinking-Feeling Not It!:**

Fine. She wished _She_ would stay quiet, then.

**:Better:**

With a sigh, Cornelia stood up.

_Let’s just get today over with._

* * *

Will was a little nervous.

She spent most of the time post-Yan Lin that she was alone staring at the pendant she had received. It was almost hypnotizing and the soft light it gave off was soothing to look at. She could remove it totally and wear it or put it in her pocket, or she could stuff it in her dresser and walk away, but something inside her felt uncomfortable when it wasn’t on her person, much less touching her skin or absorbed in her palm.

Her mom hadn’t noticed the new palm tattoo, which was good because Will would have gotten the mother of all lectures for getting a tattoo while underage on a visible body part.

Thank whatever god might be listening for the small mercies.

She stood in the scraggly grass clearing of the construction site that had apparently been an ‘ongoing project’ for the last 3 years and held out The Heart.

Hesitantly, she spoke up, “So, uh, your Grandma said what exactly?”

Hay Lin tugged her goggles down, “Grandma said that the crystal could empower us with the ability to use the magic of The Dragons easier and it would make us stronger in general!”

Will stared down at the floating pendant, “So did she give directions on how? Like is there a password?”

Irma snickered, “Try ‘ _Dragon Up_ ”!”

Will was _not_ going to reference a cartoon every time they had to fight the forces of evil, no matter how tempting.

“Uh.. ‘lets go?’, ‘activate?’”

She shook the crystal hopefully as Hay Lin struck a pose and hollered, “MOON! PRISM! MAKEUP!”

This predictably did nothing but make Cornelia roll her eyes.

Will then went for a different approach, and tried to will the crystal to respond, words suddenly falling from her lips without her intending to say them, " _Guardians Unite!"_

For a moment, time stood still.

Then suddenly, abruptly, the crystal flashed brightly as Wills body suddenly lit up the same way it did when she first obtained The Heart. The feeling of her clothes turned into a tingling, snapping sensation as suddenly all she could hear was a loud, high pitched chime and the sound of her own breathing. Then, it all faded away a second later and she opened the eyes she had reflexively screwed shut.

She looked down, and her clothes had been replaced with something entirely different as her new friends made exclamations of surprise with varying levels of profanity and delight.

She took the time to look over her new clothes- hoping that her old ones hadn’t suddenly been vaporized.

Her ratty sneakers were now sturdy dyed purple leather boots that reached most of the way up her calves and her pants were a pair of striped green-blue leggings with likewise dyed leather tassets -this time in aquamarine- fashioned in a way that made them look like a miniskirt. Her shirt was a flowing, long sleeved top with a set of very flexible leather chest armor adorned with some kind of yin-yang-like symbol fitted over it. Staring at her hands, she now had black fingerless gloves with the symbol the heart etched into her palm emblazoned upon it in dark purple.

Her back felt open to the wind and very strange in a way she couldn’t quite place. Before she could finish that thought, she heard Hay Lin exclaim with incredulous delight, “Guys! Guys! We have wings!”

Will snapped her gaze straight to Hay Lin, who was wearing her own technicolor magic armor outfit and did, in fact, have a pair of small feathery iridescent black wings she was trying to get a good look at and flapping experimentally.

Will put a hand back behind her and brushed purple-pink feathers.

She had - _felt_ \- that! It was like a whole new section of her brain had suddenly woken up-

“Oh no, I _hate_ heights,” Taranee said dejectedly.

Cornelia automatically responded while inspecting her own set of feathers and armor, “It’s unlikely these are big enough to let us fly, they’re barely as long as our arms.”

Taranee tugged on one of her new dreads and replied, “I know, but _we_ aren’t done growing yet. Who’s to say they won’t grow with us.”

Irma, who had finished her swearing streak and was now giving herself a once over, “I dunno but these clothes are pretty rad! Who cares about the wings?!”

Cornelia snorted and Irma shot back, “Oh like you weren’t fawning over your new look!”

While the two of them bickered, Will felt something stir awake inside her head in the same new section of thoughtspace that had booted up when they had transformed.

It felt immeasurably graceful and _very much_ not human.

Will could feel it uncurl itself in someplace deep in her head, and she hesitantly poked at it.

 **:Sleepy-noooo Awakening-confusion** **?:** , It poked back with not-words, and rolled over.

Will, thoroughly freaked, started paying attention to her friends again just in time to see Hay Lin launch herself off a piece of staging proclaiming, “I’m Air! I can fly!”

Miraculously, Hay Lin didn’t instantly plummet to the ground and break anything. She instead had leaped forward a good five feet as Irma and Cornelia stopped their argument in time to watch her fall very slowly as she beat her wings like a hummingbird and extended her palms towards the ground.

A wind blew through the site from her location, and after a few seconds, she had reached the ground. It was now dead silent as everyone stared at her and Hay Lin pouted, “Well I _almost_ flew! I need more practice!”

She then bounced over to the others like she hadn’t just jumped from three stories up without a backup plan, “Lets see all of you try something!”

Irma shrugged and looked around- locating a muddy-looking drainage pool. She locked eyes with a speechless Cornelia and stated clearly, “Top this!” before extending her palms and and pausing with her eyes squeezed shut.

“Top _wha_ -”

Irma flung her hands upwards and the whole pond sloshed upwards, before jetting back down and making everyone scatter.

Irma grinned, now dripping with questionable water.

“Bet you can’t do something that cool!”

Cornelia snarled, her gold wings flared, “You drenched me _again_!”

Irma then reasonably pointed out, “Not _just_ you!”

Indeed, everyone had gotten sprayed a little, but Cornelia had gotten most of it because she hadn’t jumped backwards like the rest of them.

Cornelia threw her hands in the air and _stomped_.

The ground around Irma shot up a good four feet with Irma on it. They both stumbled back a step in surprise.

The presence in Will flopped back over, **:Noisy cubs! Shoosh! Wingleader shoosh cubs!:**

_It. It wants me to make them stop fighting?_

It inched closer, and became more vibrantly and clearly not some internal thought train, **:Assent, self-awake!:** it growled without heat and it was nearly audible, **:We-Us** **person** **! Cub snap-teeth-growl! Wingmates quiet!:**

The... Other? Got louder?

The presence chuffed, **:She! Insistence! Shoosh cubs!:**

_Ok! Ok! I’m going!_

Will said, “Hey.”

Irma and Cornelia continued to bicker, seemingly not hearing her, but Taranee looked over. Hay Lin was just staring up at the clouds distractedly and ignoring everything else.

Will said again, a little louder and a bit annoyed, “Hey.”

Irma jumped down from the new dirt tower, continuing to argue with Cornelia and not paying attention to the way the now rather depleted pond was sloshing around again, “You're just still upset you were wrong and magic IS real!”

Cornelia narrowed her eyes as Will clenched her hands and sharply hollered, “ **_HEY!_ **”

Everyone jumped and snapped their gazes to her, Cornelia and Irma’s impending magic duel suddenly forgotten. Will shrank back a bit, uncomfortable now that she got their attention, but the Presence was pushing her to see it through, “Irma please maybe try not to splash us next time, Cornelia please can you please sit down and not excelate this? The both of you stop fighting, we need to figure this whole magic thing out.”

Hay Lin spoke up, “Speaking of that does everyone else have a dragon, too?”

So the Presence is Xin Jing, then. Ok. Sure.

Taranee sagged in relief, “Oh good, I’m not going crazy.”

Cornelia pulled a face, “Speak for yourself, mine won’t _shut up_!”

Irma grinned, but it looked more like a grimace, “What, so magic comes with a free backseat driver?”

Hay Lin flicked her wings, “Ours does. Didn’t you listen to Grandma’s story? They’ll guide us.”

Xin Jing impressed the sensation of resting her head on Will’s shoulder. **:affirmative. We-Us show. Not-alone!:**

It would be touching if it wasn’t so weird and unsettling.

Hay Lin then perked up and changed the subject, “Oh! Taranee! You should try something!”

Taranee rubbed her wrist, “Um, what?”

Irma sat down heavily and replied, ”You’re fire, see if you can light something _on fire_!”

Irma seemed a little too excited about that.

Taranee looked around, obviously looking for something safe to burn, and then turned toward a fallen branch on a stretch of concrete.

She very carefully aimed a finger gun at the branch -bracing her wrist with her other hand- and then promptly fell backwards with a yelp as a blast of heat and flame blasted forwards and into the branch and concrete.

The branch was knocked backwards and merrily burning and the concrete was charred up a little but nothing was on fire shouldn’t be.

Will would rank the attempt as better than Irma’s but worse than Cornelia’s. Then she realized it was her turn.

Will had no idea what the fuck ‘Quintessence’ was.

 _‘Um,’_ she tried to think at Xin Jing, **:?:**

_‘What is Quintessence and how do I use it?’_

Xin Jing lazily flicked her tail and pushed the Impression of electricity crackling in her jaws and being spit out.

Will figured she could just use her hands.

**:Affirmative:**

Nervous, Will reached for the feeling she had come to know as channeling magic and willed electricity to spark in her hand, imagining it dance across her gloves. Then with her eyes still squeezed shut, she swung her hand to the now abandoned metal staging and willed it to strike.

A sound like a gunshot boomed and her eyes snapped open in surprise as she was flung back into the ground- the smell of ozone filling the air.

Blinking away the stars in her vision she stared at the now blackened metal and smoking wood panels. Well. That was a significant amount more damage than she had intended.

Then again she was literally throwing lightning.

Xin Jing clicked a claw against the ground in her mind, **:-watch- next time:**

Irma whooped, “That was _awesome_!”

Hay Lin chimed in, “An _electrifying_ performance!”

Picking herself back off of the ground and immensely grateful she didn’t injure her seemingly delicate wings somehow, Will checked where the sun was in the sky, “Well, we’ve probably destroyed this place enough for one day, and I need to go home for dinner.”

Will resummoned The Heart as Irma and Hay Lin made sad noises at magic funtime being over.

Despite the weirdness, honestly Will DID have fun today.

She had almost forgotten what it was like to mess around with friends in a group she was actually apart of.

It was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now you see one of the major AU changes- The dragons.  
> I always felt it was a waste, ever since I was a small child, that they only mentioned the dragons three or four times when they were supposedly the essence of their power.  
> The dragons were cool! The dragons were why they had little wings! The dragons were why the early issues put such a heavy emphasis on ‘you are something more than human now’.  
> So I really kicked them forward, distant arcs talking about fairies that are a total retcon, who? It’s dragon time.
> 
> Another thing about the dragons- I made their telepathy Like That for two reasons. The first is that it feels so much more natural and raw to me than normal dialogue does, like pushing thoughts at each other ought to be. The second is that people recognize animals and fantastical creatures as ‘essentially human’ when they talk, and I don’t want you to view The Dragons as ‘essentially human’. They are not human, they are not tame, they are raw elemental energy and The Will Of All That Has Existed, Is Existing, And Will Exist In The Future. They are something Other, and they can mimic human behavior reasonably well, but they simply do not experience consciousness like a human does.  
> The way I express this telepathy is 100% a loveletter to Embers by Vathara(ATLA) and Nightfall by Leletha(HTTYD). Go check those out if you haven’t read them already. They do dragonspeak far better than I.
> 
> Also, Cornelia. Cornelia is hard to write. In part because her personality in the show vs the comics vs the chapter books is all different. I magpied many pieces of each and the flavored it with my own headcanons.  
> In this, Cornelia is scared. She is scared so she gets angry and doubles down the denial. In the face of all this proof, Cornelia doesn’t really think magic is fake still. But if she admits it, then she has to examine how this affects everything else she believes as well, and her life is built on structure and order and controlling everything in her grasp.  
> This is new, scary, and she cannot control it. She cannot control a piece of what she views as her own mind, and that is scary.  
> So she gets angry.
> 
> Contrast that with Will, who pretty quickly accepts Xin Jing is real and is a person and is now in her head for the rest of her life. Whether her lack of processing this whole situation on the spot is good or not depends on if you think repression or denial is worse. 
> 
> Lastly- Here is the images of their guardian forms with some notes, https://www.deviantart.com/xhri/art/Guardian-Outfit-Ref-TDoK-780171235?ga_submit_new=10%3A1546894759


	8. Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Pathways Cross

Caleb was getting a little desperate. His bird was getting tired,  _ he _ was getting tired, and Frost and HIS bird  _ still _ hadn’t given up.

They had gotten out of the district and Caleb had swiftly headed for a non-populated area. Frost had a track record of trampling people. There was a canyon filled with many paths and drop-offs that Caleb could lose him in, or at least annoy him enough to make him give up on someone he wasn’t promised a reward to kill.

Snapping the reigns, he directed his bird between large, craggy boulders and then with a quick prayer to the Wise Toad, he and the bird jumped down into the canyon.

He knew his bird wouldn’t be injured from the height he was going for, especially because this strain had bigger -but still not flight capable- wings to help break the fall, but he also knew the canyon had many, many lose rocks and unsafe ledges. He was hoping Frost’s heavier bird would chance across one of those faults and take a fall.

With a loud -whump- Caleb looked behind him as Frost and his mount landed in the canyon behind him.

Go time.

He yanked the reigns and sped down a narrow crevice as Frost commanded his bird to charge. Caleb could reach out and touch the walls they were so narrow, and therefore Frost HAD to take the longer route, giving Caleb some time.

Reaching the end of the crevice, Caleb took a sharp right and hugged the side of the canyon, scanning for the way into the Infinite City he only vaguely recalled was there. Frost’s bird screeched as it caught sight of them again- having made its way through the wider pass.

Caleb ducked as Frost finally threw his spear- his bird had the good enough sense to jump down to the next lowest ledge and out of the brute’s line of sight.

Spying a tunnel carved into the side of the canyon, he took it and slowed to a trot to preserve his bird’s stamina as Frost yelled in rage.

They had by no means lost him, he just had to remove his spear from where it was embedded in the wall before Frost could try to kill him again.

Upon hearing his bird return to a steady breathing rhythm, he sped it up into a run and exited the tunnel. He heard Frost yell again and saw him a good length back, hopping rickety cliffs on his way down to where Caleb was.

Yet again, Caleb urged his bird into jumping down to a lesser traveled pathway- this one not worn largely flat by hūgong traffic like the above ones.

It was so much more unsafe than the high roads, but it was even more unsafe for Frost.

Trilling in alarm, his bird wobbled as the ground shifted under it slightly, and leaped forward onto a more stable patch of ground. This bird seemed to have not had the good sense bred and trained out if it like most of the army birds. Caleb wondered idly who its owner was, before quickly paying attention to the dangerous path before him- the side of the canyon dropping off nearly fourteen arm lengths down before another viable ledge was visible. The sound of rock crumbling away and bird shrieking alerted him to Frost encountering the unstable patch of ground, and he looked back in time to see Frost and his mount leaping clear from the debris falling away into the depths.

Caleb gritted his teeth, that bird was simply unnatural, what with how strong and tough it was. He could feel the chase and the long sleepless night catching up with him once more as the sun became barely above the high walls of stone. His head hurt and his bruises and legs ached. He shook his head,  _ when _ he got away he could sleep.

With a snarl he pressed onward.

Rounding a corner, he spied another tunnel descending in a steep incline and turned down it. It branched in many, many directions, getting darker as he went down one of the branches and turned a corner. There were no glowstone torches in sight, much less any daylight, and it branched again. Caleb bit back another curse. Frost would be able to see far better in here than he could.   
Making a decision, he got off the bird and made a quick, silent plea to The Wise Toad once more.

‘ _ Please. Let Frost spare it. _ ’   
He loosely slung the end of its reins on a rock spire and quietly ran down the left path, hoping it led to the sky or to The Infinite City.

It was dark for a good long while, but then he caught sight of blue light flickering over rocks.

Glowstone!

He sped up, before screeching to a halt.

The light came from below a ledge. Quite a bit below. He grit his teeth. He would have to climb.

Carefully picking good footholds, he inched his way down the cliff. He heard an odd hissing high note about halfway down, it was faint, but totally unplaceable.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps, “Come out little _ thief _ ! No one hides from Frost for long! If you give yourself up now, I’ll make it quick instead of bringing you back alive!”

That  _ was _ the better option, whatever Phobos had planned for him would be way worse than simply dying in a hole- no,  _ no _ , what was he  _ thinking _ ?

He was taking Option Three, neither,  _ and _ if he was captured there was still a chance of escape!

Caleb carefully lowered himself down another few handspans, ever so quietly and slowly.

Frost’s deep, maliciously gleeful voice echoed in the shaft, “Last chance…”

He didn’t dare move a muscle.

The moment passed and Frost spoke again, this time louder and closer, “Alright thief, that’s how it is then.”

Caleb, now with the threat of death delayed, slowly lowered himself down to the next foothold. It was now a jumpable height, but he didn’t want to let Frost know where he was, so he located another place to step to.

As he put his weight on it, it crumbled and he scrambled for the next grips and footholds as Frost exclaimed victoriously, “There you are!”

Panic flooded the exhaustion right out of Caleb’s system as he aimed, dropped, and rolled into the inset ledge where the light was coming from just in time to miss getting skewered by Frost’s spear.

_ That isn’t trying to take me alive! _

Caleb turned towards the light and froze. The inset ledge was actually a cave, not a tunnel, and inside of it was a crackling blue light so bright it hurt Caleb’s eyes.

A light that rippled in the outline of a jagged slash in the air- in between which was looking out on a scraggly forest and a artificial looking half-full pond. Further in the distance, Caleb could make out unfathomably tall strange grey structures.

This was a Portal, a rip in spacetime that led to another world.

There wasn’t any choice, especially as Frost started climbing his way down.

He jumped through.

* * *

Will was just about to try to deactivate The Heart when Taranee exclaimed, “Hey what’s that?”

They all turned to where Taranee was pointing, and there in between two barely-standing walls of bricks, there was a bright blue slash of energy crackling through the air.

Xin Jing snapped to full alertness and started growling faintly.  **:Between! Portal! Danger!:**

Hay Lin flicked her wings excitedly, “Hey, we did it! It’s a portal! We gotta close it!”

Irma said flatly, “Uh, How.”

Cornelia gasped and stepped back as it ripped wider and showed a figure charging through it.

With a humming crackle, it spat out a humanoid figure that landed on its side and struggled to get up.

The figure was wearing a long brown coat, a pair of boots, a pair of black pants, a rust-colored scarf hiding a large swath of his face, and a white shirt vaguely reminiscent of some 17th century fashion.

He looked pretty human, for an extra dimensional alien invader.

He struggled upright as Hay Lin looked around and picked up a piece of rebar.

As he blinked his eyes open, he finally caught sight of them and froze, expression shifting between awe, hope, and fear.

He put his hands up in the universal sign of ‘don’t shoot’ and said hoarsely, “I don’t mean any harm to this place. Those wings, Are you… The Guardians of Kandrakar?”

Cornelia put her hands on her hips and his pale eyes flicked to her, “Who’s asking?”   
The boy darted his gaze to the portal, where something was moving on the other side, “My name’s Caleb, but can you close that portal?”

Hay Lin spoke up, “But then you’ll be trapped here!”   
Caleb finally stood all the way up, “That’s fine, _ I  _ might not mean any harm, but that guy on the other side _ does _ ! If you can close it, hurry!”   
Will turned to Xin Jing, who provided the Impression of  **:tail flick, sewing-shut. Edges-stick. hold:**

Will did not have a tail.

A hulking figure dropped down and looked at the portal from the other side.

Caleb backed up, “Any time now!”   
Will, slightly panicking, took the hand with her crystal and slashed it across in the direction the portal tore, willing it to go away.

With a sizzling noise and a flash of light, as the figure started walking towards the portal, it fizzled out of existence.

Irma dropped the gob of water she had summoned to her hands, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

Hay Lin on the other hand, dropped her rebar and clapped, her wings fluttering, “One down, lots to go!”

Will decided to explain to their new alien-friend about this whole mess, “Sorry we, uh, just started yesterday? I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Caleb asked- mystified, “You... aren’t immortal?”

“I... Don’t think so?”

Caleb sat back, “Huh.”

Cornelia crossed her arms and cut in, “So.”

Everyone looked over as she waved her arm in Caleb’s direction, “What are we going to do with him?”

Caleb also very much looked like he wanted to know what was being done with him, which was fair.

Hay Lin ran over to the bag she had set aside and pulled out a flip phone with about twenty charms hooked on it. Dialing, she put the phone to her ear, “Hi grandma! You know that  _ thing _ we talked about yesterday? Yeah well we were practicing and there was one of those portal things and now there's a boy and his name is Caleb and there’s no portal anymore so what do we  _ do  _ with him?”

Caleb asked hesitantly, “Um. What is that?”

Irma replied with full confidence, “Magic communication device.”

Cornelia corrected her annoyedly, “No it’s not! It’s-”

Irma interrupted her, “It’s pretty much effectively magic Mr. Alien Guy,” she then turned to Cornelia, “Unless you can explain how it works exactly.”

Hay Lin snapped the phone shut before Cornelia could try, having finished her conversation, “Ok! We’re bringing him to the restaurant, grandma wants to talk to him!”

Caleb looked equal parts relieved and nervous, “So who is this… Grandma and what should I call you?”

They sounded off their names and Hay Lin launched into chattering about Yan Lin, “She’s nice and cool and my grandma and knows all kinds of stuff! She was a Guardian before us so she’ll what to do!”

Caleb looked more intimidated.

Taranee piped up, “Uh, should you be giving that information out?”

Hay Lin shrugged, “What’s he gonna do about it? We can take him.”

Caleb then said apologetically, “I, Already knew that name. Before Phobos, The Guardians used to visit every now and again, and people like to tell stories.”

Will resummoned the Heart and stated, “We can’t go into town like this.”

She looked to the other four, hoping for a better idea than depowering, finding no complaints, Will closed her eyes and reached for that imagining-adjacent feeling that controlled magic and tugged it downward, willing them to return to the way they were before.

Xin Jing clicked a claw as Will felt the light and tingling feeling again,  **:Called-Imagineering:**

She opened her eyes and she was in her usual clothes again, sans wings.

It felt… odd to have the brainspace for wings suddenly discovered but then lose it again. She almost missed it.

Xin Jing replied wisely,  **:losing-things, weakened. scary-downed-trapped:**

That’s fair, but she couldn’t use them for anything but emphasis, they weren’t flight capable.

Xin Jing corrected her,  **:not Yet:**

Will supposed that was as good a confirmation for Taranee’s theory as any.

She dismissed the Heart and collected her bag as the others did the same, Caleb still looking very awkward and like he wanted to ask a question but wasn’t sure if it was wise.

Will didn’t think he was evil or anything, but she also had no idea how any of this actually worked, so he could be actually Phobos for all she knew.

The made their way back to The Silver Dragon, while Caleb looked around in awe and confusion the whole way.

Reaching the correct block, Hay Lin led them around back to the alleyway behind the restaurant and knocked on the door.

The door swung open- revealing Yan Lin holding a broom like a staff. After giving them a quick one-over, she motioned them quickly inside and down into the basement. They had been busy for awhile now, and the smell of fresh cooking food was making Will hungry. By the way Caleb perked up, it was making him hungry too.

“Get in, get in! I’ll get some tea and snacks and we can talk.”

She motioned to a bunch of stacked crates and a few miscellaneous chairs, “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be back.”   
She made her way slowly back up the stairs, and there they were, sitting in Hay Lin’s basement with an alien boy by the light of a few naked lightbulbs.   
Hay Lin perched herself on a covered stack of crates and swung her feet.

Caleb shifted in place awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable but unwilling to speak up about it.

Will thought the whole situation was rather uncomfortable herself, but also didn’t want to comment- lest she make the situation worse.

A few minute passed in silence, then Yan Lin came back with a teapot, some stacked cups, and a large box with some delicious smelling food in it. Hay Lin hurried to help her bring it down the stairs.

She passed out cups and poured tea- offering sugar, cream, and honey, which Caleb politely declined all of.   
Yan Lin asked him if he could eat eggs and seafood, to which Caleb said yes with a puzzled tone. She then offered them some egg rolls out of the box, which he took a few of gratefully.

With a pleased tone she too sat down on a wayward chair.

Caleb flicked his gaze around the room for a moment before tugging his scarf down. Revealing a normal human face with some odd green markings creeping up the sides of his cheeks like the roots of a tree. His shoulders hunched, he sipped his tea.

Yan Lin began with her first question, “Alright, what’s your story, kid? Why are you here?”   
Caleb, relaxing just a hair, said, “I was being chased by an agent of Phobos after breaking into his castle to take back some things he stole from the rebellion and I found a portal when I hit a dead end, so I jumped through.”

Caleb took a cautious bite of his egg roll after Will happily started in on hers. Upon sampling the sweet-savory filling, he ate in earnest. Yan Lin tapped her fingers on the rip of her cup, “Meridian has a organized resistance then? That’s good. Our goals are in alignment. You should also know that time flows differently between your world and ours. A full day passes here, and a week passes in Meridian.”

Caleb’s eyes widened and he sat up properly, “Then I have to get back now!”

Yan Lin held up a hand, “As soon as we can, we will send you back. Now girls, how did your little magic session go?”

Hay Lin launched into a chaotic explanation of how they did significant damage to the worksite largely by accident while the rest of them had their snack and drink.

Yan Lin gave an indulgent smile to Hay Lin’s recounting, “I remember when I was just starting out- we trashed our fair share of abandoned areas before we had any sort of control. Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of using magic soon enough.”

After a moment Caleb spoke up, “While being chased, I heard some of the guards who worked in the castle talk about two high-ranking members of Phobos’ army having a mission to find something on Earth.”

Yan Lin looked up from her cup, “Something, or perhaps  _ someone _ . It has been around fourteen years since Phobos’ sister was spirited away to Earth. She’d be old enough to have her powers be surfacing soon. We need to find her first.”

Irma made a distressed noise, “Ok but,  _ what if _ she’s one of us?”

Yan Lin cut in, “Impossible. The Dragons choose only those born on Earth.”

Xin Jing whuffed and Impressed,  **:Truth! Maybe-Negative would-know! Would remember! Would tell!:**

Well, that’s one terrifying thought silenced.

For the rest of the meal Yan Lin peppered Caleb with other questions about The Rebellion( _ not great but managing _ ) and the state of Meridian( _ also not great but managing _ ).

Something occurred to Caleb, once they had finished their food and drink- who then started rummaging through his pockets to remove a thin wooden box, “Ma’am, do you recognize this place? I found it in the castle.”

He removed a map, and while Will was still new to Heatherfield, the shape looked terribly familiar. By the way all but Taranee gasped, they recognized it, too.

Cornelia leaned over Caleb’s shoulder, “That’s Heatherfield!”

Yan Lin said, “So they have narrowed down their search, and have been doing so for awhile.”

That was a chilling thought. Will gripped the slightly battered hem of her hoodie.

Yan Lin sighed and hefted the dishes and food box, and Hay Lin hurried to take some of the stuff from her, “Well there’s no use worrying about it right now.”

Yan Lin then insisted Caleb stay for the night, as Caleb knew little of Earth customs and it ‘ _ would be criminal to leave a young man out in the cold far from home _ ’. He agreed reluctantly, and Yan Lin shooed the girls upstairs after settling him in.

After putting away the dirty dishes and absconding to the house section of the restaurant, Yan Lin said, “I will not lie to you, this just got much more dangerous. If you have not discovered already, you have gained companions, of a sort. The dragons know magic right down to their very being, listen to them and you will pick up your abilities much faster. Don’t worry too much, tomorrow we will begin our search. And as for the portal our guest needs- Will, the Heart can both close and make Folds in time and space. It will take awhile to learn how to properly create one, though, so we will look for a naturally-occuring portal first.”

Will bit her lip and nodded. ‘ _ Xin Jing _ ’, she thought in the dragon’s direction,  **:?:**

‘ _ When I get home, can you teach me about what I… We can do? _ ’

Somewhere in her head, she felt Xin Jing bare her teeth in the approximation of a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not totally happy with this one, but whatever.   
> Also, balancing Yan Lin’s two canon personalities is hard when you want her to ALSO be responsible about information that they need to know, especially when she knows she probably hasn’t got much time left.  
> It bugged me, that in the cartoons Yan Lin didn’t train them properly, though I know its because they wanted it to match up with the comic where she died about a month after giving Will the heart.  
> So. You know. I'm fixing that. Yan Lin is look after her granddaughter by Actually Giving Them Information in this.  
> Also I’m starting college courses so this will start updating slower. I have a few backlog chapters left but by the time chapter 11 rolls around that won’t be the case.  
> Rest assured this won’t ever be abandoned, as I said before, this is a 10-year investment.


	9. Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Much-needed reflections

_'It was kind of weird to have a secret alien hiding in your basement'_ , Hay Lin thought.

He wasn’t _really_ an alien in the traditional sense, her grandma explained to her, he was from a separate whole universe, not a different planet in space and was pretty much human besides, but it was the principal of the thing!

Hay Lin doodled the sword that he had had strapped to his back on the corner of her homework sheet. She had popped down to check on him an hour ago, and he was fast asleep, clutching the sword like teddy bear. She eased the door shut with a grin and let him be. _How cute!_

Really this whole situation was super weird and new, but looking back, many things about her life made _so much_ more sense!

Her grandmas alleged frequent disappearances as a toddler, the way her grandma had been very Particular about how magic worked in fairytales and movies, the way her grandma’s lessons always had the tone of _'don’t cut class or cheat if you’re just going to get caught!_ ’ and ‘ _don’t hurt people by accident, hurt them on_ purpose _if you are going to do it at all!_ ’ The way she had Noticed Cornelia and Irma in second grade and just sort of… Latched onto them for no discernible reason.

How her grandma was always very serious about passing on a variety of ‘fairy tales’ that she now felt were probably very censored war stories and actual history.

The way her grandma had always understood her in a way her parents could never _quite_ manage- no matter how much she loved them and they her.

Hay Lin realized sometimes that she was just kind of a little weird- other people very much didn't _understand the thing_. Her grandmother always seemed to understand the kind of soul-deep rightness of perching on top of things and gesturing when she spoke and wanting to _chase the seagulls so bad_.

**:One-of-us blood-and-magic, thinking feelings-memory-heart:**

Her dragon had started talking to her that morning during school and she loved her _so much_ already.

**:agreement, We-Us same-together belonging-meant-to-be, joy-and-comfort!:**

Maybe the others didn’t get that yet, and Hay Lin felt sorry for Cornelia’s dragon especially, _oh man_ was she hard to convince!

Hay Lin put away her now-completed Algebra sheet and pushed the question of what she should call her partner.

The dragon waggled her tail **:many-words! dragon-title Wind-And-Space-And-Dreams!:**

Hmm, that might be a bit of a mouthful when translated. She tapped her pen against her lips.

Windy, maybe?

The dragon gave a full-body wiggle **:new title! Acceptance!:**

Windy it was!

Her grandmother knocked on her door frame, “Hay Lin?”

Hay Lin jumped out of her internal conversion, “Yeah? I just finished my homework.”

Her grandmother neatly sidestepped a stacked pile of books, “How are you doing, granddaughter?”

Hay Lin stuck her pen in the overflowing pen caddy on her desk, “Magic is hard, but wonderful and _right_. Maybe the other world stuff is a little scary, but I think we can do it!”

Her grandmother gave a sad smile and said kindly, “Come here, child.”

Hay Lin got up and walked over to her grandmother, who wrapped her in a tight hug. All at once, she slumped into the hug and buried her face in her grandma’s graying hair.

It didn’t quite hurt, and she wasn’t quite scared or sad, but it was just _so much_.

Her grandmother hummed some tune that Hay Lin knew every note of but had never gotten the name of as she hugged her back with her eyes squeezed shut.

Windy curled up close and purred as she Impressed, **:safe-warm brave-strong cub loveyouloveyou Mine not-alone:**

Her grandmother paused the humming, “You are so very _brave_ , Hay Lin, and I love you very much. You can do this task Kandrakar has set for you. It will be hard, and it will be scary, and I’d do it for you if I could, but you can, and you _will_ succeed. You are going to do amazing things, Hay Lin, and I’ll be helping you all the way.”

Hay Lin sniffled, not trusting herself to respond, and buried her face in her grandmother’s shoulder as Windy purred louder.

Her grandmother resumed her humming, and stroked a hand through Hay Lin’s long hair. After a long while, Hay Lin untangled herself from her grandma and scrubbed her face.

“‘M not… _Scared_ , but. It’s… It’s just _a lot_.”

She waved her hands in an attempt to convey how _big_ everything suddenly was, “It’s not like I had much of a plan for my life yet, and this destiny feels Right in a way nothing else does, but. It’s just. Been, y’know,” She flopped backwards on her bed,”A day.”

Her grandmother rested a hand on hers, “I know.”

The moment passed and Hay Lin brought up the question that had been nagging her for awhile, “Hey grandma,”

“Mm?”

“You were Wind too, right?”

Her grandmother replied, “Yes.”

Hay Lin twirled a strand of hair with a finger, “So you had Windy too?”

Her grandmother chuckled softly, “Windy? That’s a funny name!”

Hay Lin kicked her legs up in the air a little, “You think so? She liked it!”

Her grandmother smiled, it seemed bittersweet, “Of course she does. And to answer your question, yes- A version of her at least.”

Hay Lin made a questioning noise, “A version?”

Her grandmother clasped her hands and set them on her knee, “‘Windy’ could explain it better than I, but the Four, now Five dragons aren’t like us- they don’t have a consciousness and sense of self the way we experience it. Only Xin Jing has ever properly sampled human existence. They are made of magic, see, and their magic is _all_ of their being -their spirit and will. When they pour their magic into a new chosen Guardian, they are making a whole new version of themselves- young again and shaped by the life and personality of their Guardian before acquiring the rest of their magic. This version of themselves is but a facet of the Dragon’s actual self, a same and different person from one cycle to the next.”

Windy flopped onto her back. **:perfect-circle over-and-over, Dust, cub-again, dreaming-different-paws:**

Her grandmother smiled again and said, “Take care of each other for me, won’t you?”

**:promise, forever-and-always:**

“Of course, Grandma.”

* * *

Caleb was mystified. Earth was everything and nothing like he expected. It was so clean and bright and filled with bizarre inventions. Birdless carts, strange hairy animals, housing taller than he ever thought possible or structurally sound, hot water without needing to boil it freely flowing in their houses and amazingly scentless outhouses. The air tasted and smelled strange, like living next to a burning pit, but still plenty breathable. The sky, too, was bizarre, just an open sea of blue instead of the calming presence of a bigger world taking up the sky. None of the guardians had thought a single thing was remarkable.

And the guardians themselves! They looked much like he had imagined- winged warrior women with masterfully-crafted armor overlaid upon fancy fabrics. But they were still radically different from all expectations. They were a little childish for their age, and seemingly barely trained, but burned in his senses like a beacon when in their true forms- clearly very powerful all the same. Yan Lin talked as though The Guardian Dragons and the girls with their title were separated, and he was inclined to believe her- but the concept was just so contrary to everything he was taught.

The Leader, Will, he had learned was her name, had claimed they had quite literally _just_ started their training. She was fairly tolerant of a leader, letting the others make their own calls most of the time- it was a leadership style he himself used. The rebels were more like many little hunting parties who loosely organized together and relying _too much_ on a leader who could be captured, intimidated, or killed had stamped out several rebel factions in the past.

Though Caleb thought it was rather more that she had only recently become leader of anything and was just hesitant to direct her friends in anything still.

Caleb rubbed one of the scars on his wrist absentmindedly. They hadn’t even commented or really recoiled from his scars, either. It was a nice change from new people recoiling when he didn’t cover every inch of his body or gawking like he was some kind of curious exotic animal.

As nice as the warm room to sleep in, not-judgy people, and good food and drink were, It was also Very strange to be staying the the home of a Legend like Yan Lin. She was featured in two stories that he had adored as a child.

In the first, she had been apart of the yearly visit of Kandrakar’s representatives and there had been a massive storm on the sea. She had gone by herself into the maelstrom to slow it down while her fellow Guardians had evacuated the coast. By the time it had reached land, it was simply a strong but not totally disastrous downpour. She had fought the storm for a full day and a half without rest, and the people on the coast still venerated her and the work she did at keeping their ships and docks and people safe. There was a lovely painting on one wall of the cathedral dedicated to Kandrakar in that Port City of her facing the storm. The cathedral was now closed to the public as to avoid Phobos’ ire, but it was connected to the Infinite City, so he was able to view it once when he was in the area.

Looking at her now, it looked very little like her- though age could be to blame, there.

The other was during Phobos’ ascension. The Queen and her consort had been slain one night by an unknown party(Official records assert it was ‘the budding Rebellion’ but The Rebellion itself suspected Phobos had done it), and with the heir still a baby, Phobos had to become the acting regent.

The advisers and parliament were arguing for _months_ over if a Prince should be recognized as their leader- if even for a short while. In the end, they had given him the seat and he had grown his power like a fungus.

Kandrakar sent The Guardians to investigate.

During that period Phobos had made his move, and The Guardians had fought him back and away from Earth so the heir could be squirreled away by her nursemaid and a couple of servants.

Then The Veil had slammed down.

Yan Lin was the only Guardian to be mentioned by name in any of the stories about them, actually.

He had expected someone taller and younger looking, he guessed. The woman was short, with long graying hair and wrinkled skin. She walked with slow fluid grace and he most certainly noticed the way she had wielded that broom like a staff. She didn’t look like a Legendary Warrior. She just looked like any of the other retired warriors in The Rebellion- a little tired, but with a iron will untarnished by age.

Her granddaughter was quite a bit less calm. She bounced around with a nearly unflappable optimism, and was terribly curious. Yan Lin doted on her, and Hay Lin was always quick to help her grandma in return.

They were clearly a happy, loving family, and it made him miss his father all the more.

He had not expected to find The Guardians, but now he had, it was an incredible opportunity for the cause. Even young and untrained, securing their help would be immeasurably helpful to both morale and to firepower. He simply Had to convince them to help, if possible.

He had slept for many hours upon getting settled in the basement- the nearly day and a half without rest had caught up with him, and by the time he woke again, the sun had already been in the sky for several hours.

He needed to let Aldarn and his comrades know he was alright, to report back his findings.

The things he learned these past few days would change the whole game.

* * *

Taranee by nature was Afraid. But she was not afraid of Fire. Not the element, and not -once **Fire** had fully woken up- her dragon.

Sure, she was scared of her at first, but once she realized it was a feature of Guardianship and not her going crazy it was almost _better_ than before.

 **Fire** was a reliable source of calm and courage, and despite the weirdness, she was a good listener.

There were times when she had wanted to be back in Sesamo and still in the apartment they had been living in -even if it had been rather cramped- but despite all the scary, she maybe didn’t want that anymore.

They had moved because her mom had gotten the job as judge in the city, and driving a little over three hours was simply too much. Her dad worked from home, and her brother was taking a gap year before going to college, so off they had gone.

Taranee stared up at the ceiling of her room and sighed. Really, everything that these last few days had held and what she would have to do eventually made her want to cry and hide in her closet under the spare blankets and not leave until it was all over.

But.

But it wasn’t just about her now.

If she just ignored it and ran away she would be abandoning her new friends to unknown threats. If she ran away to be scared, she’d be abandoning all of Earth to evil alien invaders. And she simply _couldn’t_ do that, no matter how much she wanted to bail.

 **Fire** rumbled, **:resolve. forgone-conclusion:**

Taranee checked her phone idly, half-hoping for an update from her new friends- of whom had all entered themselves into her contacts. Nope.

A knock on her door frame startled her out of her thoughts.

“Hey sis,”

Peter, her older brother, stood in the doorway. He smiled and leaned on the door frame, “Mum’s gonna be home late so Dad’s gonna order pizza, that ok with you?”

Taranee sat up and put her phone away, “Yeah.”

Peter asked, “So how’s school been? You still killing it on tests?”

Taranee replied, “Good, and the only two tests I’ve taken so far I got 100% on.”

He grinned, “Nice! Heard you hung out with some new friends the other day _and_ today, looks like things are looking up then and you had nothing to worry about!”

Taranee huffed, remembering how she had anxiously ranted to Peter about not wanting to go to school and how everyone would shun her and it would be terrible _forever_ not even a week ago, and didn’t reply.

Peter stretched and changed the subject, “So I’m gonna tell dad pizza is a go. You need anything?”

Taranee shook her head and Peter saluted before strolling off.

As much as she didn’t want to say it lest she jinx it, _things_ , Taranee thought to herself as Fire purred within her mind, _were in fact looking up_.

* * *

Irma trailed a finger in her bathwater.

This whole situation was bizarre and incomprehensible and _totally unbelievable_.

It was scary and strange and wonderful and everything else, all at once.

She tugged on the tingly phantom-flexing sensation and flicked her finger up- sending a orb of water to hover in the air above her with the other four bubbles- held by her will alone.

It was absolutely enchanting.

She had always loved the water- she never seemed to get cold in it and picked up swimming easier than she had picked up walking.

The sea had been her birth mother’s favorite place in the world, her father had told her this many times with a bittersweet expression, _you really are your mother’s daughter_.

Irma barely remembered her mother- she had been only five when her mother had gone missing, presumed dead.

No one could survive falling that height into rocks and rapids.

Eventually, her father had remarried, and she got an annoying little brother and a new mom.

Anyway!

Irma sunk back into the hot water, she had _magic_! She shouldn’t be thinking about sad things! She could make water float and who knows what else!

 **:charm-and-lead! Breathing!:** Other-Her supplied, sending the Impression of blowing bubbles underwater- whiskers wiggling.

Oh yeah! The jedi-mind trick test thing! She forgot about that.

She looked down into the water, then shook her head. She was not going to chance drowning herself in bathwater to test magic she still barely believed was real!

“IRMA IT’S BEEN AN HOUR WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING IN THERE?!”

Her idle concentration snapped and the water splashed back into the tub. And across the floor.

_“ IRMA!”_

She shouted back to her irate father, “TAKING A BATH! WHAT ELSE!”

“YOU BETTER BE OUT OF THERE IN FIVE MINUTES!”

She sighed and got out of the tub and Other-Her twitched her tail. **:time small! Silly!:**

True! But what dad says goes, so she had to get out.

Pulling the drain, she grabbed her towel and look at the soaked floor.

Aw, hell.

Irma scrubbed her hair sort-of dry and tied her towel around her.

“Come on, come on…” She mumbled, “Evaporate already!”

She had an idea, and pushed it at Other-Her.

**:can-do! Try!:**

Oh, good!

Irma squeezed her eyes shut and willed the water into turn into mist.

When she opened her eyes, it seemed a little mistier in the room. Other-Her whirred and then gave a big stretch, **:could just Move water?:**

Oh! Stupid! Why didn’t she think of that?

**:practice good!:**

Yeah well, _she was on a time limit_!

Irma quickly and carefully hovered blobs of water back into the tub. When she was about halfway done, her father hollered again.

“IRMA! I’LL BREAK DOWN THIS _DAMN_ DOOR-”

Irma grabbed her dirty clothes and yanked the door open.

“I was just leaving!”

Her father gave her a significantly unimpressed look, “Who even spends an hour taking a bath!? Your fingers aren’t even pruny!”

Irma gave a sheepish smile while internally panicking, “Suppose it’s magic, hahaha!”

She then quickly speed-walked to her room, throwing her clothes into the laundry basket on the way.

Behind her she heard her dad screech, _“IRMA THERE’S A LAKE IN HERE!”_

It’s much better than it _was_! She hurried the last few steps to her room and shut the door with a sigh of relief.

It was tough being a teenager!

* * *

Straining her ears, Will listened for her mom settling into her room.

Sure that her mom wouldn’t see the light, Will summoned The Heart into her hand and stared at it again- watching the way the pink and white hues flowed inside it.

_‘ Xin Jing?'_

**:?:**

_‘ Can you tell me about my? Our? Powers?'_

Xin Jing curled up and began to purr, **:affirmative. Walk-headspace. Show:**

Will desummoned the heart.

_‘I don’t know how.’_

Xin Jing clicked a claw, **:self-direct! Settle comfy-like. Breathe:**

Will closed her eyes and did as directed.

**:expanding-ribcage-fully:**

Will deepened her breathing as directed.

**:Feeling-spirit-and-breath, thinking-nothing, holding-like-living-things:**

Will tried at first to only think of nothing and predictably Couldn’t. She huffed and began counting breaths

**CLOSE ENOUGH, KEEPER**

Will snapped her eyes open with a start.

There she was in a large room with no ceiling, greatly resembling a bowl made of obsidian with a cloudy sky above.

Sitting regally on a raised and very intricately carved section and illuminated by a stray sunbeam was Xin Jing- her large, glowing eyes looking straight at Will.

Will staggered backwards.

“What is this place?” She whispered.

The dragon’s muzzle parted, revealing sharp teeth.

**THIS IS OUR SHARED MINDSCAPE**

The words shouted in her mind and ears at the same time, the telepathic words not English and the noise not even words, but meaning was forced from them all the same.

Will asked, “Why is it so…”

Will didn’t have the words for it. But this wasn’t a place she’d associate with herself!

**IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE IT, CHANGE IT**

Will flung her hands up in the air, “How?”

Swishing her tail, Xin Jing replied,

**YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO IMPRESS YOUR WILL**

Wha- Oh. The magic feeling.

**YES THE MAGIC FEELING**

Will looked around and selected a obsidian spyre to work on. First she tried turning it pink. It took a terribly long time, but slowly, the spyre turned into a cotton candy pink crystal.

**WELL DONE CUB**

Will pumped her fist in celebration.

**WHY DON’T YOU CHANGE THE REST TO YOUR LIKING**

_Oh fuck_

It was a long night.

When Will was done she was exhausted and her brain fried. She didn’t want to _think_ anymore. Just _sleep_!

The ground had been changed to a grassy field with a large frog pond- the pedestal in the center of the room turning it into an elongated crescent shape. The spires on the edge that made the space she was in look like a bowl she had turned into trees and mountains- keeping the assorted jagged spires in the ground but turning them pink.

Will had asked Xin Jing about the pedestal and what she wanted to sit on, and Xin Jing had replied that if she didn’t like it she would change it herself.

Will in the end had left it obsidian, not wanting to switch the intricate detail for something that would probably look less good. Her grass looked like a carpet, not real grass! She couldn’t do something like that!

Xin Jing sighed but accepted her work as done.

Will pushed herself upright from where she was lying on the ground, “So. Can you tell me about our powers now?”

**TRANSFORMATION. ALLSPEAK. SENSING. GLAMOUR. TELEPATHY. REGENERATION. BLINKING. FOLDING. LIGHTNING. ENERGY MANIPULATION. SPIRIT MANIPULATION.**

“Is. Is that last one what I just did?”

**SPIRIT MANIPULATION COULD ALSO BE CALLED NECROMANCY**

Well that's. Creepy? Unsettling?

**YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MASTER IT FOR AWHILE**

That was not terribly reassuring.

“What is Blinking? And Folding?”

**BLINKING IS TELEPORTATION WITHIN A UNIVERSE. FOLDING IS GOING TO OTHER UNIVERSES.**

It sounded a little complicated and kind of silly to Will.

**ALL OF EXISTENCE IS COMPLICATED AND SILLY**

Xin Jing shook her head and her long ears flapped about.

**THE FIRST SEVEN POWERS ALL GUARDIANS MAY USE. THE LAST FOUR ARE EXCLUSIVE TO US.**

Will stood up fully, “Ok, but how do I even DO any of that?!”

 **I JUST TAUGHT YOU HOW, CUB. TARGET. IMAGINE. PROJECT. MOVE.** **_IMAGINEER_ ** **IT.**

Will blinked, “Magic is really just that simple?”

**YOU TOOK NEARLY TWENTY MINUTES WITH THAT FIRST ROCK I WOULD NOT SAY IT WAS SIMPLE**

It just felt. Anticlimactic. That there was no magic words or special preparations- just creativity, concentration, and willpower. Like just anyone could do it.

**IF THEY HAD ENOUGH MAGIC. WE HAVE ALL OF INFINITY IN OUR JAWS**

Xin Jing stood up fluidly from her pedestal and walked closer to Will before flopping down again.

Her head was as almost as long as Will was tall, and her exhales ruffled the not-grass. She turned and one of her featureless glowing eyes bored into Will’s own.

**LITTLE KEEPER SETTLE DOWN AND LISTEN**

Will wisely sat back down again as Xin Jing started to purr, the reverberating noise louder than any cat.

**YOU ARE BARELY FLEDGED, CUB**

**YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE BUT YOU MUST**

**JUST AS YOU MUST FACE PHOBOS**

**JUST AS YOU MUST RETURN MERIDIAN’S HEART**

**IT WILL BE HARD BUT YOU CAN DO THIS CUB**

**AND WE-THE-FLIGHT-OF-KANDRAKAR WILL BE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY**

Xin Jing curled her tail around them.

**ALL OF INFINITY IS AT OUR FINGERTIPS**

**YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO HOLD IT AND KEEP HOLDING IT WITHOUT IT BURNING YOU**

**DO NOT FRET CUB**

**BECAUSE I KNOW YOU WILL DO THIS AND SO MUCH MORE**

Will yawned, and Xin Jing inched her snout closer.

**SLEEP CUB**

**MUCH WILL BE HAPPENING TOMORROW.**

Will sleepily mumbled, “One last question- why d’you talk the other way in the real world?”

**THIS IS MIGHTY UNSETTLING AND DISTRACTING TO HEAR, IS IT NOT**

That was fair.

**TRUE TELEPATHY IS MUCH MORE EFFICIENT BESIDES**

**WORDS ARE NOT NATURAL TO DRAGON THINKING**

Will slumped against Xin Jing’s large muzzle, the scales warm and supple beneath her.

**SLEEP LITTLE KEEPER**

The mighty dragon flicked her gaze to the still-cloudy sky above.

**THERE IS A STORM COMING**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As to why the dragons behave as though the humans are younger than them if the dragons are ‘reborn’ each cycle? It will be touched on more later.
> 
> I should note that Hay Lin has inherited dragon-ness from her grandmother PLUS her dragon PLUS her grandmothers encouragement of dragonlike habits so she is much closer to dragon feelings and has experienced them for longer without having a real reason why. So Hay Lin is delighted to have a word for The Weird Thing No One Else Does.
> 
> Also why I had temporary ‘normal speech’ even though I said I didn’t want them to feel terribly human? Exposition needed to be done in a more coherent way so I worked it in. Think the voice similar to Moro’s in Princess Mononoke plus Nerissa’s in the last stretch of the cartoon.
> 
> Imagineering has been lovingly taken from The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris D’Lacey, which is this is a stealth crossover with entirely for universe mechanics and a Little ancient history that will have little bearing on the plot for a very long time if ever. It is 100% unnecessary to read that series to enjoy or understand this fic. I considered doing more tLDC lore and worldbuilding but then it would become even more niche so I Didn't.


	10. Through The Veil Between Worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb returns to Meridian

Cornelia awoke thirty seconds before her alarm, fully alert.

This _terrible_ occurrence happened because The Golden Menace snuffled her way into her dream and happily informed her that she had healed her fatigue. Cornelia instantly snapped awake terribly hungry and filled with rage.

**:why upset? Helping! Timing close!:**

_You don’t wake people up before they have to be up!_ Especially on the weekend! She was going to hit snooze once, even! But now it would be no use!

Cornelia grabbed one of her pillows and flopped it on top of her face.

 _‘Helpful my ass!'_ Cornelia groused, refusing to admit that she couldn’t remember a time when she felt more rested.

The dragon wiggled her whiskers in amusement and Cornelia ignored her as she got ready for the day. She had plenty of practice with her younger sister, after all.

As she stacked a third waffle on her plate her mother spoke up, “Hungry, are we?”

Cornelia froze and reconsidered grabbing a fourth. She shrugged and took her seat.

“I had a light dinner yesterday.”

Lillian giggled, ducking around Cornelia and snagging the strawberry syrup before Cornelia could.

Her dragon flicked her tail. **:We-Us using-magic, using-energy, burning-energy:**

Cornelia took the syrup back from her little sister with a glare, _‘_ _Oh so me being starving is your fault!?'_

The menace rolled over in response. **:We-Us Imagineering!:**

Cornelia huffed and stabbed her fork into her waffle stack with a little bit more force than necessary.

Her father rounded the corner into the kitchen, buttoning his shirt, “Oh! Waffles! Thanks, honey!

He grabbed one and started munching on it without adding anything or grabbing a plate. Cornelia gave him a wave and hello before swiftly returning to her food.

By the time she was done, her dad was putting on his shoes and coat and waving goodbye.

She left for the elevator twenty minutes later, bag and coat in hand.

**:feast living-joy wanting-more!:**

Um, no.

**:pause-mimic, yes! self-older! knowing-things!:**

She’d buy a crêpe or a bagel at one of the food places on the way then!

**:satisfaction:**

Yeah, _whatever_.

On the walk to Hay Lin’s, Cornelia reflected on the mystery boy. He was cute, for an alien. The only thing that seemed to separate him from a human was the green markings creeping up his face.

She thought they looked almost pretty- spreading like tree branches. If she didn’t know better, she would assume they were tattoos. All and all, he seemed like a good choice for an alien ally.

Cornelia didn’t believe in fate and fairy tales, but the way Caleb appeared felt like one.

She was still reserving judgement, but he seemed nice enough.

Maybe nice enough to date.

No, no. _That was silly!_

He had to go back to eviltown and he’d age way fast anyway. A week to a day? Two months and he’d be a year older!

 _Besides_ _,_ Cornelia firmly thought to herself as she neared the block where Hay Lin lived, _he’s probably going to get himself killed with some other heroic stunt_.

When they were all seated back down in Hay Lin’s basement, she decided Caleb looked even cuter after he had been bathed and had a good rest.

Yan Lin spoke first.

“Portals tend to appear in places like deep caves, dead ends, abandoned places, crossroads, and other such places that might be described as ‘Liminal Spaces’. They may happen in other places, however. Portals usually match up to the same places on both sides, which is why there will be little to no portals more than a mile outside of Heatherfield. The capitol where Phobos resides matches up largely to our city, and the magic attempting to breach the veil is most concentrated there.”

Yan Lin took a long drink of her tea before continuing.

“There is a way to search for portals. It requires a specifically enchanted map of the area and The Heart.”

Yan Lin removed a tattered looking parchment from her sleeve.

“This is one such map. It was inked with magically charged ink -allowing it to track the flow of distortions in space-time. It is, however, very vaguely drawn.”

She unrolled the map, and it showed a very rudimentary shape of Heatherfield, all the important lines appearing to be symbols and words written very small. The only roads it showed were the main ones, and the only landmarks it showed were natural ones and a few very old buildings.

Placing it upon the table, Yan Lin gestured to Will to come forward and wave the fancy magic necklace around.

Will brought it out of her hand and dutifully attempted to follow Yan Lin’s instructions.

“Dangle it over the map by the chain- yes like that. Now imagine coating the map with a light dust of magic from The Heart- _No_ don’t swing it! You need to now bring this magic forth on the map- Yes good! You can open your eyes now, Will.”

Will looked down at the map blinking, as the map for a moment rippled and a red glowing slash mark appeared on the map.

Hay Lin leaned in, “That's by the junkyard I think!”

Irma bounced up from her seat, “So what are we waiting for? Lets go!”

Yan Lin raised up a finger, “Ah, ah! _Prepare_ first! Deactivate the map, you can do this by doing what you just did, but in reverse, Will. Good. Now Caleb, gather your things. I recommend keeping that sword out of sight for now.”

Caleb was essentially already packed, so Yan Lin rounded on the rest of them.

“You five should check that you won’t be missed for a few hours- you may encounter others from Meridian or wish to check it out for yourselves. If you _do_ go to Meridian, you should find a way to hide your wings if you will be walking around the normal populace. You should also make sure to keep track of the portal, so you can find your way back. If you lose the portal, you will need to either create your own, or find a new one.”

When they confirmed no one needed them back for a few hours, she let them go. Wishing Caleb well with an odd salute he mirrored with a soft smile, before recovering his face with his scarf.

Cornelia tired not to stare too much at him, especially after Irma caught her eye and wiggled her eyebrows at her.

The dragon in her head wiggled her whole body to join in the teasing.

**:cub-green soft-fuzzy-Mine feelings! Amusement! Gotcha!:**

Cornelia, feeling herself begin to turn pink, firmly stared at the trees and sign posts the whole way there and _Not_ Caleb.

* * *

Irma was pretty jazzed to be sneaking around in behind the junkyard for more magic-ey shit, to be honest.

It made it better than she _totally_ caught Cornelia making eyes at Alien Boy.

Irma wiggled her eyebrows again when Cornelia looked in her direction again, relishing in the way Cornelia flushed and glared at her with little heat.

_Ha!_

**:No interlopers!:**

That’s not what she was doing? She was…

Well, she just sometimes felt the need to Bother people! And Cornelia was _there_ and gave as good as she got most of the time and didn’t take it all that personally!

That’s all.

**:bare-teeth! Mock-fight. Dragon-feeling!:**

Other-her had it! Kinda.

**:still chasing maybe-wingmate-Mine-thief!:**

She wasn’t worried about losing her frenemy. Caleb was a non-issue! They’d probably never see him again.

**:chase to be sure!:**

Well.

Maybe.

She still wasn’t _trying_ to drive him away. That’d be _actually_ mean.

Will stopped and spoke up, jarring Irma out of her internal conversation, “Hang on, we should, uh. Transform first. _God, that sounds so cheesy._ ”

Will pulled out The Heart and Caleb took a few respectful steps back.

“Ok,” She said with a half-reluctant, half-curious tone, “Let’s see if this works again- _Guardians Unite!_ ”

Irma’s world flooded with the buzzing of magic, and then in instant later she was back in the Ass-Kicking Outfit.

Will put The Heart away, “Alright. Now we can go.”

They walked around back of the junkyard for a bit before Caleb finally climbed a tree and pointed inside the fence.

“I can see glowing in there.”

He looked further down the fence for an opening, “And there’s a tear in the fence on the corner.”

Oh. Breaking and entering.

Taranee shifted her feet, “Uh. There’s probably guard dogs?”

Caleb climbed back down, “Then we’ll just have to be quick.”

And so they went.

Taranee paused before she went through the hole in the fence.

“This is trespassing and also super illegal.”

Cornelia shifted her iridescent green-ish gold wings and spoke, “Do you want to wait out here alone?”

Taranee ran the pros and cons for a moment before quickly following.

They walked quickly to where Caleb saw the light, weaving in and out of abandoned cars.

Then suddenly they came upon another tear in the fabric of reality. This time showing the side of a farm. A few large bird-like creatures pecked at the ground lazily.

“So,” Irma said.

“So.” Hay Lin echoed, putting her hands on her hips.

Caleb adjusted his scarf.

“So.”

They stood there for a moment before Caleb spoke again, “ Well. Thank you for helping me. Guess this is it.”

They stood there staring awkwardly for a good few seconds before the barking of dogs started up, getting louder with each bellow.

Caleb tensed, “Go!”

He jumped into the rift as the sound of barking got closer, Will shouted, “Into the portal!”

Hay Lin hopped in first while Taranee looked between the direction of the barking and the portal.

Cornelia followed soon after, and Taranee, having made up her mind, sighed and jumped in too. Irma could hear the scratching of claws on the ground as she followed, Will jumping in just behind her.

At first it was terribly bright- blue and white and gold rushing around her. Then she was falling sideways through a void of darkness alone. It was thoroughly eerie- no sound, no light, no sensation, and Irma found she couldn’t even draw a breath. After a heartbeat, there was a second rush of light, then she staggered as her feet hit solid ground- Will hitting the ground half a second behind her.

What the _fuck_ was that void-place?

 **:Between!:** Other-Her Impressed.

 _'Between'_ is certainly one way to put it.

The dogs on the other side suddenly both looked away from the portal.

Irma hurriedly spoke up- seeing a moving figure, “There’s a guy coming!”

Will summoned The Heart and looked over everyone, “Sh-Should I close the portal?”

Cornelia said gravely, “You’re going to _have_ to.”

And then as the man rounded the corner, the portal fizzled out of existence, stranding them in Meridian.

* * *

“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!”

Luba lashed her tail as she continued to rant.

“NOT ONLY HAVE THE GUARDIANS BEEN AWAKENED TOO EARLY, _NOW_ THEY’VE GONE AND ENTERED MERIDIAN!”

Luba stalked down the hallway, her apprentice following her with silent footfalls. A guard startled, “Honorable Luba-”

Luba pushed past him and through the doors.

“ORACLE!”

The Oracle did not look up from the starmap in front of him, but Luba knew he was well aware of her presence.

She stormed into the room, her apprentice waiting by the door.

“ORACLE! You _cannot_ let this happen!”

The Oracle replied, still without looking up from the starmap, “You know I must.”

She _very well knew_ he could send a few warriors to Meridian to extract them, _much less_ send a few to Earth to train them.

“You absolutely CAN!” She growled lowly.

He tapped the orb representing the gas giant Carabos and it enlarged- Its moons following suit.

“I cannot. Sending a team to Meridian may very well burst the fragile veil. It is far too close to falling already.”

Luba grit her teeth.

The Oracle was keeping the exact state of the veil from the Council, but if it was _that_ far along, then they really _couldn’t_ send anyone.

“ _Fine_ ,” She bit out, “But they are still too inexperienced to be left alone.”

He brushed Meridian -Carabos’ largest moon- with his thumb, “They _must_ learn to stand alone, Luba. Have faith.”

Luba balled her fists, “Having faith things would 'work out' is what got us into this mess, _if you can remember_.”

With that last biting statement, she turned around and stalked out to the door, “Orube, come. If The Oracle isn’t going to see reason, we have better things to be doing.”

She paused at the doorway after letting Orube through first, “When you open your eyes, Oracle, I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

Meridian so far was just a weird bird farm, not the wasteland of murder Taranee was expecting.

Especially considering they just lost their only known ticket back.

Will put the crystal away with a regretful look on her face, “I'm sorry, now we don’t have a sure way back-”

Irma slung an arm over Will’s shoulder, “Hey, you couldn’t let that guy see _this_ and also us! We can find a new one, they keep popping up _everywhere!”_

Hay Lin spoke up, “In the meantime, look at the birdies!”

They all obligingly looked at the large birds.

They were very pretty- their feathers were a pleasant honey-brown and cream and they had a very stocky build that made them look particularly round and soft looking- like toasted marshmallows. They had ear tufts that flicked around and strange tendrils drooping from their heads.

Caleb explained, “They’re hūgongs. They’re bred for food and transport. These hens look to be the food kind.”

Honestly they looked kind of like alien chocobos but Taranee wasn’t going to point that out.

Hay Lin looked like she was going to, but Irma cut her off with a far more important statement, “Do you know where we are?”

Caleb scratched the back of his head, “Hmm, vaguely? This is clearly in a more rural district, but if we find a road then I’ll be able to do better. We should get to The Infinite City -which is an underground network under Rebel control- that way we’re safe.”

He glances them over, “Your, ah, clothes are kind of conspicuous, though. We’ll need to stay hidden.”

Hay Lin flopped over in the grass, “Aw man, I should have brought some spare clothes! Oh well.”

Will rocked back on her heels, “So we follow Caleb and get to relative safety? Then we find a way home?”

Situation from the previous day reversed, Caleb led the way to a deserted dirt road and got his bearings.

He straightened, “Alright, I know where we are- We aren’t far from an entrance.”

Taranee looked at the old-timey farm fences that lined the road, and the many, many hūgongs that dotted the landscape as Caleb hurried them along. Along the way, some of the clouds parted, revealing an orange planet in the sky, eliciting gasps and large grins from Irma and Hay Lin. Caleb then told them the name of the planet was Carabos.

Hay Lin bounced in place and flapped her wings, "We're on a _moon,_ that's _so cool!"_

After awhile, they came to a farm shack half-built into a hill- its windows fogged with dust. It was just barely large enough to hold them all and close the door.

“Alright,” He murmured, before opening a second rotting door on the hill-side to reveal a much newer-looking wall. He ran his hands along a few symbols and the wall transformed into a door.

With a flourish, Caleb swung it open.

A flight of stairs descended into darkness.

He gestured for them to go in, and so they filed in one at a time- Taranee more than a little reluctantly. She wasn’t afraid of the _dark_ , no, she was afraid of what was _in_ the dark.

She snapped and a flicker of flame lit up on her fingertip, illuminating the passageway.

Caleb shut the door behind them, “Useful,” He said, “But you won’t need that for very long.”

Indeed, once they rounded the corner, the walls had a few greenish-blue glowing stones in them.

“It’s glowstone,” Caleb explained, “The Infinite City is mostly lit by it.”

Taranee was a little worried it was uranium or something but **Fire** clicked her claws.

**:We-Us regenerate. Know-rock. Is-safe, foregone-conclusion:**

Feeling better now that she knew she wasn’t going to experience radiation poisoning, she extinguished her flame.

The hallways then turned and ended in another door. This time, Caleb knocked.

The eyehole slid open and a muddy blue face with eyes stared out, widening before opening the door.

“Caleb! You hadn’t reported back in a few days and we thought they had got you!”

Caleb smiled ruefully, “Almost, but not quite. And they still _could have_ , you should ask for a password of any kind- especially for missing people.”

The figure was a slightly chubby middle-aged sounding man in a slightly frayed shirt and pants. He was also very obviously blue and had long pointy ears and some small white bone protrusions on his jaw. Yan Lin had explained that most of Meridian’s denizens did not look human, but it was a whole other thing to see said people. The man then said while running a hand through his thinning black hair, “Ah, I knew it was you! Call it faith- but hey, what happened? Where _were_ you? It’s been days since the castle raid!

Caleb then said, “I was chased into the canyon on featherback, and then I found a portal and crossed to Earth. There- well. Var, allow me to introduce the Guardians Of Kandrakar!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For as to why Cornelia has a tiny crush on Caleb when the parings are polydragons and caldarn? This is a glacial-speed slow burn. There will be relationships in-between the endgame getting together.  
> A new background oc appears! I did quite a bit of back-end worldbuilding notes on him I really didn’t need to do because he is Very Not Important. I'll probably make a ref sheet for him Anyway.
> 
> Luba. Luba, like Cornelia, is a fusion of comic and cartoon. A lot of her reasoning is also changed because the Nerissa 'I didn't know that would happen if I fused the aurameres' thing is bs. It was like 60 years ago. Shes canonically like 10k years old. There is no way she wasnt in Kandrakar for most of that. Shes pissed because they're untrained babies in an Incredibly dangerous job.  
> In addition, a wild Orube also appears! Don’t worry, she’ll be coming back with speaking lines and fully joining the cast of regular POV characters soon enough.


	11. Home Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An assorted jumble chapter.

Aldarn was staring at one of the magical fires that dotted the rooms of The Infinite City when a message-runner burst in- “CALEB’S BACK!”

It felt like blow to the chest, but a welcome one. Aldarn scrambled to his feet, alongside a few others, all clamoring for answers. Where is he? What happened? Is he _injured_?

The runner put his hands up, “You can ask him himself! And you’ll never believe who he brought back with him!”

Aldarn wasn’t sure what to expect when he heard The Guardians had returned. But when he slowed his sprint down one of the many halls in the City, he caught sight of the group.

They were.

Very colorfully dressed. And yes, adorned with wings. Little ones, like a particularly fancy hūgong, but _wings_! They were also very young-looking. It struck him suddenly that these mythical figures he had grown up being told stories about looked just a little younger than him.

The smallest one, with long hair like a noble, was explaining to a couple of comrades about how no, Yan Lin is her grandmother- she was named Hay Lin, no, she wasn’t immortal, and she had, in fact just started the whole ‘Guardian’ thing, sorry. Her wings and hands flicked about as she talked and punctuated her words. The brown-haired one gave a half-wave has Aldarn walked further in and-

There with his back to Aldarn and talking to a few of the raid leaders, was Caleb.

“ _Caleb_?!”

Caleb spun around and grinned, “I’m back, Aldarn!”

Aldarn crossed the gap swiftly and barreled into his dearest friend, who quickly returned the hug.

After a moment, he released Caleb from the hug, still holding his arm, “I can’t believe it! You crazy plant-brained _idiot_! I heard you lead Frost on a chase through one of the rich districts! How did you evade him? No one has!”

Caleb looked a bit sheepish, “I went deep into the canyon and chanced upon a portal. Honestly, I got lucky- he was supposed to bring me back to the castle on Phobos’ orders, but I don’t think he was going to do it in one piece. I spend a day on Earth and The Guardians found a new one to take me back. ”

Aldarn scrubbed his face, his eyes getting unfairly misty, “Well. I’m glad.”

Caleb gave a softer smile, “Me too.”

Aldarn looked at their colorful guests, now attempting to help Hay Lin with the questions about Earth and their powers, “With something this big, I think we should meet with The Mage before anything else.”

The Mage had always kind of creeped Aldarn out, she looked at him like she was testing him for something and he wasn’t _quite_ succeeding at it. Caleb met her more often, and she didn’t scrutinize _him_ that much. He felt like a particularly plump rabbit under her watchful, _alien_ gaze, but this really was something that needed her ancient knowledge.

Regardless of what it brought, Caleb was by his side again.

That was worth any weirdness.

* * *

Cornelia had mixed feelings about the whole ‘Legendary Figure’ thing. It was wonderful and fantastic and very, _very_ flattering to have so many people excited to meet her- even if most of them were literally giant lizards, but she also had reservations about going down four more flights of stairs into a passageway that was probably a _quarter of a mile below ground_ to some mysterious Mage.

She guessed that was who was in charge around here, which was good, but also the way the bald green guy Aldarn seemed freaked about it was Concerning. Caleb seemed jumpy too, actually. Which was _also_ a bad sign.

Caleb and Aldarn lead the way down yet another sloping hallway before hitting an ornate door. Caleb knocked, and after a moment, the door swung open by itself.

The room was a cavern, both rougher and more intricately carved than the rest of the Infinite City. There were stalagmites and stalactites dotting the cavern, and small natural glowstone crystals jutted from the ground and walls.

It was also carved and inlaid entirely in strange writing and geometrical shapes except for a wide passageway to a large waterfall.

 **:Magic-writing!:** Her dragon Impressed into her thoughts excitedly, waking fully from her nap.

Caleb and Aldarn knelt, and Cornelia felt she should probably do the same as Hay Lin and Taranee swiftly followed suit. When they all bowed, Caleb spoke, “Mage, please grace us with your wisdom. I have brought The Guardians Of Kandrakar, and news of Phobos’ movements.”

There was a moment of silence before a figure was visible from behind the waterfall, then it walked through, revealing a hooded figure wearing a burgundy robe.

The figure reached up jeweled hands and pulled the hood back- underneath was a bald woman with many, _many_ intricate tattoos.

Her dragons vibrated with excitement, **:Recognition! Carving-Runes-And-Magic-And-Tunnels! Mortal-kin!:**

Um.

**:Wanting-solidity, touching-hearing-smelling-tasting-seeing-Feeling. Walking-land-sea-sky. Imagineering-Self, discovery! Already-existed-things-like-self!:**

The woman then spoke in a raspy voice that cut through Cornelia’s thoughts, “Rise, and welcome Guardians, to The Infinite City. I am The Mage, and the Keeper of this place. Here you shall be safe from Phobos’ reach. Let me welcome you to our world, it may be in ruin, but it is ours, and we _will_ see it rise from the ashes.”

The Mage paused for a moment as they stood up again, and then turned to Caleb, “The news you have?”

Caleb responded, “Phobos is looking for The Light of Meridian and intends to bring her back here. He has sent his right hand man as well as our spy to carry this task out.”

The Mage clasped her hands, and after another moment replied back, “Worrying. No wonder The Guardians have been Awakened so soon.”

She then turned back to The Guardians- again pausing before speaking, “Little sisters of a sort, our world is in peril. _Your_ world is in peril. The only thing stopping Phobos from going forward with his goals is that he has _not yet_ found his sister. You are but fledgelings, and it pains me to place this burden on you, but I have one dire request, search for Our Heart. Find her, and _keep her away from Phobos_.”

Irma scratched her chin, “We were already gonna try to do that I think, but…”

Will stepped forward, surprising everyone including herself, “We will. We’ll do our best to find her.”

The Mage looked at them a long time before nodding and responding, “It is all I ask. See to it that you try. Enjoy your time in my city, and you may call upon me here at any time if you wish to talk. I will answer.”

With that, she put her hood back up and stepped backward into the waterfall once more.

Aldarn was already at the door.

* * *

Hay Lin trotted after their hosts as she thought about The Mage.

She was a dragon! Which was _super cool_!

But she was also kind of spooky, though she supposed dragons were _supposed_ to be spooky.

Hay Lin wondered what her other form looked like, it was probably also super cool, but not as cool as Her Dragon!

Windy wiggled at the praise and responded with a mental image of a great slate-blue-grey dragon with larger wings than Windy’s and a burgundy mane. **:maybe! Much-time-passing:**

Hay Lin thanked Windy anyway, it was cool they knew each other! The Mage must be terribly old.

Hay Lin loved the Infinite City, even if she couldn’t see the sky. It was glowy and ancient and looked like such a good place to explore. Everything was an incredible work of art!

The walls, the floor, the pillars, the light systems, the water ducts, just _everything_!

Everything was carved so intricately and had a beautiful symmetry and she was simply in _awe_.

The rails on the staircases had detailed snakes spiraling down them, even!

This was the work of hundreds of years of carving, and she felt privileged for getting to view even a small section of it.

Eventually, Cornelia spoke up, “So about getting home.”

Will fiddled with her sleeves, “I think… _I think_ I can try to make one. Going above ground and searching for a portal should be the last option, right?”

Aw!

Hay Lin grinned, “Ok!” She turned to their two guides and raised her voice a little, “Hey, guys! Do you have a room where we can practice?”

* * *

Will stared at the open blank space in front of her.

“So what are you supposed to be doing?” Hay Lin asked from her perch on a ledge- currently upside down and twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

Looking up, Will sighed, “I’m supposed to visualize the place I want to be and where it is exactly? Then I have to find-” She struggled to find the words to describe it, “The ‘World’s signature’? Like a feeling? I don’t know- It’s hard to put into words? Then I just,”

Will slashed The Heart through the air before continuing, “It seems so _stupid-easy_. But you have to visualize in enough detail and _focus_ and," Will made a frustrated noise and waved a hand around.

Lacing her hands, Cornelia spoke up suddenly, “Describe it to me- the place you’re trying to go.”

Will startled, but did as directed.

“I was going for that place we were practicing at- the abandoned construction site?”

Cornelia responded, “No, what can you see there? Describe it to me.”

Slightly puzzled, Will elaborated, “Um- there's patchy grass, and the pond Irma dumped on us-” Irma stuck her tongue out as Will continued, “The staging I fried - _whoops_ \- uh, charred concrete, some half-destroyed brick walls. A crane that’s rusting behind some chain link fencing…”

Cornelia continued, “Now what’s it sound like?”

“The faraway traffic, sometimes the sparrows call,” Will shoulders relaxed, “leaves blowing across the ground.”

“And what can you feel?”

“There’s a small breeze?”

Cornelia waited a second, then said, “Try it now?”

Will took a deep breath in, grasped at the image- at a strangely familiar buzz of magic Xin Jing helpfully provided, the _want_ to be on Earth- the blue and green and white planet they called home, called her magic to her, and slashed the air with The Heart.

The odd noise of a portal chimed through the air as blue-white light ripped the arc Will made in the air.

She grinned and put her fits up in the air, “Yes!”

It was a strain to hold it, it wanted to snap around and consume everything in the nearby area before winking out, so Will spoke up, “Ok, I can’t hold this long, so we gotta go.” She turned to Caleb and Aldarn, “Thank you for helping us.”

Hay Lin waved to the two Meridianites as she darted over to the portal, mimicking that odd salute Yan Lin and Caleb did, “Thanks a lot, love your city!”

When all five of them stepped into the nearby area, Will let go of her hold on its stability, and it snapped around them in a storm of light and sound.

Upon exiting The Between, Will instantly hissed out a curse in surprise.

They had been dropped on top of the staging she had fried. Taranee flailed with a yelp and clung to the rails when it made a loud creaking noise in protest beneath them.

“Well,” Will said, “Guess I still gotta work on my aim!”

Irma huffed out a laugh in response.

As they worked their way slowly down the rickety, blackened ladders, Will asked, “Hey Cornelia, how’d you know that’d help?”

Cornelia paused in her descent to respond, “It’s a meditation exercise. I just... re-purposed it.”

Will jumped down the last two rungs and backed away to let Taranee get down, “Well, thank you. I dunno if I wouldn’t have gotten it without it.”

Cornelia smiled, her wings shifting a little from their folded position on her back.

The warm and fuzzy moment passed as Irma stated, “Hey do you think if I jump to the pond over there it’ll catch me?”

* * *

Yan Lin took one look at the five of them, arriving through the back alleyway totally exhausted nearly 5 hours since they left, and said, “Come in girls, let’s get you something to eat.”

Fed and seated around the dining table, Yan Lin got a haphazardly-told tale of their day.

Ah, she remembered something she had forgotten to mention, “Because of the time dissonance you will be experiencing something similar to jet lag. I would recommend going to bed and waking up near to your normal times, even if you’re tired. You did very well today, girls.”

When everyone had left and Hay Lin went off to take a shower, Yan Lin allowed herself to feel the worry she had been hiding. If Will hadn’t managed to open a portal, they could have been stuck there for an untold amount of time! It was the right call, for them to have closed the portal, but it was also the most long-term dangerous one.

It could have ended poorly, but she was very glad it hadn’t. Once they could use magic more quickly it would be safer. Combat was fast, and while sink or swim learning produced results quickly, the cost was high.

 _If only they had more time_ , Yan Lin mused to herself.

If Yan Lin had a penny for every ‘IF’ she’d wished she’d be richer than anyone in Heatherfield. Well. Technically she _was_ pretty rich though, but converting treasure gotten in other worlds to cash had to be carefully in order to not get investigated by the government. She should make sure her family knew were all of it was in case something should happen to her suddenly...

In any case, wishing and hoping did nothing!

All she could do was help them weather the storm.

* * *

Will spent most of her afternoon helping her mother finish unpacking the house. Setting up their hilariously old TV and its antenna was obnoxious and irritating, and unpackaging all of their kitchenware and putting it where it was supposed to be was worse. But it was far less stressful than their little trip into Meridian.

She yawned her way through dinner, causing her mom to ask if she slept well the day before. Will shrugged and stated that she should have gotten around to putting up the curtains to blot out the light.

Which _was_ true. She had only opened her fancier clothes box for Halloween, and the one that had her more often used clothes and that was it. The window just wasn’t the reason she was so tired. Her mother made sympathetic noises and offered to help Will unpack her stuff in her room to find them.

Will was kind of touched, and let her help a little.

Her mom was pretty great, Will thought as she cut open the packaging tape on the one of the boxes sitting in her room.

She wondered what it would be like if her mom _did_ know about the whole magic epic destiny thing.

‘ _Hey mom! Can’t be home for dinner, I have to go fight the forces of evil!_ ’

‘ _Oh well, if you have to, Honey. Be sure to be back by nine! And bring a water bottle with you!_ ’

 _‘Sure mom! Love you!_ ’

‘ _Love you!_ ’

 _Ugh_ , she dismissed the thought. She didn’t even know where to begin to explain it all, and she _couldn’t_ anyway.

Her mother exclaimed an “Aha!” causing Will to whip around to face her.

Oh. The curtains.

Her mother strung them up and stuck them on the wall, “There! No more annoying lights!”

Will smiled, “Thanks mom.”

Her mom ruffled her hair, “Any time, kiddo!”

* * *

That Sunday was a lazy day for Will. Clean, arrange some stuff, do some homework, and sleep in until 9 am. Oh, it was simply _heavenly_ to sleep that long after the week she had been having. She managed to put away Most of the boxes that day before getting distracted by the internet and messing around on that until her mom got home.

She just couldn’t bring herself to put away those last few boxes just yet.

It just… Didn’t feel right.

It was uncomfortable and it felt like admitting everything that happened so far was truly real. The good, and the bad. That Fadden Hills was gone and no longer where she was and everything that had led up to that was really real and just-

Will’s eyes stung.

**:Shoosh cub. warmfinesafe. Breathing-feeling-seeing-experiencing-living:**

Will scrubbed at her eyes harder, trying desperately to think of something else.

**:Making of portals. Earth wingmate. Remember-do!:**

Stuff she could see in her room? Boxes, both empty and full. Her bed. The newly put up curtains. Several frog plushies. Her phone on the dresser. A bedside lamp.

**:Listening!:**

She could hear the hum of the heater kicking on, the faint sounds of traffic from her window, her mother moving something around in the kitchen.

**:Feeling!:**

The blankets were soft underneath her hand, and maybe she felt kind of thirsty…

Well. It worked?

**:Wingmates help!:**

Yeah. Guess she did- if indirectly.

Speaking of being hungry, she should go downstairs to see if her Mom had finished dinner yet.

She had.

While they ate, her mother spoke up, “Hey Will, I’m going to join the PTA.”

Will shrugged, “Ok?”

She didn’t see why she had to be notified.

“Just letting you know. It means I’ll be talking to your teachers frequently.”

 _Ohhhhh_. Well. She hadn’t gotten in trouble _yet_ , so…

“Also Will,” Her mother continued, “Why don’t you tell me about your new friends? We can have them over sometime!”

Will took a few swigs of her drink and attempted to describe her new friends in the nicest and least magic-related way possible.

Cornelia was nice and helpful and showed them around the Halloween party, she had already met Taranee, Irma was funny and cool and liked animals too, and Hay Lin was creative and cheerful and lived downtown over a restaurant. Everyone but Hay Lin had siblings, no she hadn’t met any of their parents- but she met Hay Lin’s grandma who was nice? Cryptic? Kind of cool? Good at explaining things?

It was very had to describe Yan Lin without mentioning any kind of magic whatsoever.

Eventually, Will ended up back in her room as the sun was setting.

**:reminding! Unfinished-tasks!:**

Wha- _Oh shit_. Homework!

* * *

Cornelia tapped a pencil against the side of her textbook. She had finished her homework, but hadn’t yet put everything back in her bag.

She was procrastinating.

With a sigh she set the pencil down.

**:Now?:**

Cornelia sat up straight and closed her eyes.

_Fine._

**:Joy!:**

‘ _Don’t get too excited_ ’, Cornelia told the dragon, _‘I only said I’d hear what you have to say._ ’

With that Cornelia slipped into a meditation trance.

She had started meditating a long while back because she used to have such a problem sitting still or calming down, and her mother brought her to one of their neighbors on the lower floors who was a new-age-ey kind of person.

The lady had enthusiastically offered to let Cornelia join in on her morning routine of yoga and meditation that she did with a handful of other people.

It was a bunch of bullshit, really, and never did ‘help her focus’ much but meditation did help regulate her emotional state, once she was able to do it. And being more flexible _did_ help with ice-skating.

The lady was terribly overbearing though, and eventually moved out.

**YOU’RE BACK! YOU DIDN’T VISIT LONG ENOUGH LAST TIME**

Cornelia snapped her eyes open and flailed back.

Before her was a very foggy ravine filled with stunted trees. On a ledge that led to a shallow cave, a very large, very _annoying_ gold noodle was draped- tail wiggling.

The very same gold nuisance that she was sure couldn’t talk with real words- snarling and mentally shouting into her brain or otherwise.

**TRUE TELEPATHY IS THOUGHTS**

**DRAGON THOUGHTS AREN’T IN WORDS**

The dragon slowly got up from her spot, yawning, and gave Cornelia a very good view of her terribly sharp teeth.

Taking an involuntary step back, Cornelia balled her fists and said, “Ok. Talk.”

The dragon jumped fluidly down from her perch to land in front of Cornelia.

She laughed, a hissing noise that was clearly an approximation stolen from humans and never intended for dragonic use.

**SLOW DOWN CUB, TIME IS FASTER IN HERE**

She settled back on her haunches- tail curling around her.

**MAGIC HAS RULES JUST LIKE ANYTHING ELSE**

**IT HAS BEEN CALLED MANY THINGS BY MANY PEOPLE BUT IT REMAINS THE SAME**

**EVERY CREATURE HAS A SPARK OF MAGIC, IT IS WHAT CREATES LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS.**

**SOME HAVE MORE AND SOME HAVE LESS.**

**BURNING THIS MAGIC FULLY WILL KILL A MORTAL**

**CHANNELING TOO MUCH AT THE SAME TIME WILL KILL A MORTAL**

**THIS THRESHOLD VARIES, AND WILL NOT ALWAYS MATCH UP**

**MAGIC REQUIRES FORCE OF WILL AND A DETAILED IMAGE TO CAST**

**SPECIFIC ABILITIES HAVE SPECIFIC RULES**

**WE ARE EARTH, WE CANNOT SHAPE WATER BUT WE MAY SHAPE MUD OR ALGAE WITH EFFORT**

**TELEPATHY CANNOT REACH OUTSIDE OF THE UNIVERSE NO MATTER HOW STRONG WE ARE.**

**YOU LIKE RULES AND PARAMETERS, THOSE ARE THE RULES OF MAGIC**

The dragon then suddenly flopped over.

**NEW RULE! NAME ME!**

With a dramatic sigh she continued,

**EVERYONE ELSE HAS A TITLE! CALL ME BY SOMETHING**

Cornelia sputtered as the dragon rolled onto her back.

**I’VE BEEN CALLED MANY TITLES, EARTH, LOVER OF THE PEOPLE, THE GOLDEN ONE, FENG, ONEIDE, TERRA**

**CHOOSE ONE OR MAKE YOUR OWN**

Opening and closing her mouth noiselessly, Cornelia attempted to find a way to deny the golden nuisance that threw her life into chaos.

**OUR LIFE WAS NEVER NOT IN CHAOS**

**I DID NOT CHOSE YOU EITHER**

**WE SIMPLY -ARE-**

**YOU BLAME YOURSELF FOR THIS**

Cornelia drew a sharp breath in. No it was this! _Fucking_! Dragon!

**YOU AND I ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME BEING**

**PARTS OF A WHOLE**

**YOU THINK YOU CAN CONTROL THIS**

**THAT YOU COULD HAVE PREVENTED YOUR DESTINY**

**I LIVE IN YOUR HEAD**

**YOU CANNOT** **_REALLY_ ** **LIE TO ME**

But she wasn’t! Lying!

Cornelia felt her face grow hot and her eyes sting as she stormed up to the dragon’s great muzzle.

“You! You _ruined my life_! I DIDN’T _ASK_ TO PUT MY LIFE ON THE LINE FOR ‘ _ALL THAT IS_ ’! I DIDN’T _ASK_ FOR _MAGIC_ I DIDN’T ASK FOR _YOU_ I HAD _PLANS_ I HAD A _LIFE_ , _I DON’T WANT THIS_!”

Cornelia wobbled on her feet before sinking to her knees, a shuddering sop wracking her frame, fists balled in the raggedy grass.

It felt real beneath her fingers, and that made it all the worse.

The Gold Dragon drooped a whisker around Cornelia, staying silent.

“I can’t-”

Cornelia fought for the words -voice breaking, “I don’t know what to _do_.”

Silently, The Gold Dragon rolled her head and body over.

Cornelia grit her teeth. She had been playing it cool around her friends, but. This whole thing was just so _fucked up_. It was unsettling and horrible and _just too much,_ and every second she was aware of it, it was _too much._

The Gold Dragon gently butted her head against Cornelia and began to purr.

That did it, with a final ineffectually light beat of a fist against hard scales, Cornelia collapsed against her dragon and sobbed.

Tangling her fingers into The Dragon’s soft burnished mane, Cornelia hissed out between shudders, “I- c-can’t give up-”

The Gold Dragon shut her eyes and let her host cry.

Cornelia had _plans_. She had her whole life planned out. She was going to become a professional figure skater, she was going to college, she was going to find a nice boy and get married.

Shed do exactly what her parents had been positioning her to do since she was little.

The other girls didn’t _get it_. The title came with a job that would make them drop everything at any time to just close portals, much less the ‘protect all of existence’ beyond that, _and_ the promise Will made to find Meridian’s princess and protect her. Will, _what the fuck_?! Didn’t they have enough to do?

You can’t hold a job when you have to go at any time to save some other world! You can’t get good enough grades when you have to at the very least use your study-time for running around in an alternate reality!

Cornelia rested her forehead against her dragon’s temple

This was a _life-ruining_ responsibility.

And she didn’t know how to make it _go away_.

And the worst part?

The _worst part_ was that she kind of didn’t _want_ it to, even though she _had_ to if she didn’t want it to ruin her life!

Beneath her, The Gold Dragon began to purr.

Quietly, Cornelia knew, for such a large beast.

The purr thrummed through their psychic link, and unwillingly, she clung to the source of comfort- seizing the not-her-thought and holding onto it to reassert control over her spiraling mental breakdown.

After her sobs quieted, The Gold Dragon spoke up once more.

**IT’S ALRIGHT CUB**

_No it’s not! It’s not_ **_it’s not_ ** **_it’s not_ ** _and won’t_ **_ever_ ** _be ok!_

**YOU CAN MAKE IT OK**

That gave Cornelia pause, and her dragon went for the kill

**YOU CAN CRAFT YOUR OWN DESTINY**

**YOU WILL NOT BE ALONE**

But… But she already _had_ a plan, she didn’t need a new one! She didn’t need _anyone_ , either! She could do things by _herself_.

**YOUR FRIENDS WILL HELP YOU**

**YOUR WINGLEADER WILL PROTECT YOU**

**I WILL BE RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE**

**DELEGATE SOME**

**WE WILL HELP YOU**

That was the _problem_ , she didn’t _want_ to let go, she didn’t _want_ to lose control she didn’t _want_ to give up her plans, she didn’t- She _couldn’t_ -

**YOU CAN**

**JUST TRUST US**

Thats easy to say! The only person she could trust to get her life in order was _herself_. And Will- Why was _Will_ the leader anyway? She was just as lost as Cornelia was, and new to the city, to boot. Her friends were wonderful, but she wasn’t going to trust them to make major decisions for her! She wasn’t going to rely on anyone, Especially someone she only met recently!

**BUT YOU WANT TO**

No! No she _doesn’t_!   
**YOU DO**

**AND YOU CAN**

She didn’t _want_ to need _anyone_.

She wasn’t going to _let_ other people _fail_ her-

**I DON’T EXPECT YOU TO**

_...What?_

Cornelia blinked.

The purring increased in volume.

**YOU ARE NOT EXPECTED TO FOLLOW A WINGLEADER WHO DOESN’T FULFILL THEIR ROLE**

**BUT YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED**

**TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH**

**IF YOU FIND THEM LACKING YOU NEEDN’T DO IT AGAIN**

**WHATEVER THE FUTURE HOLDS WE WILL MAKE SURE IT TURNS OUT ALRIGHT**

**AND WE WILL DO IT TOGETHER CUB**

Cornelia scrubs her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

_Ok dragon, Ok._

* * *

Irma stared up at her ceiling. It had been only a day since their fantastical adventure in another world.

And honestly? It felt like a dream.

She _should_ be more freaked out, she knew, but it hadn’t really hit her yet.

What was weirding her out more was…

**:upset? Wingleader-help?:**

That.

That she understood that concept- of _someone who protects and serves the party and one listens to and treasures in return_ and automatically attributed it to Will.

And every other bizarre little concept Other-Her expressed was just as understandable.

It just kind of switched on after Other-Her woke up, like she had forgotten it and only just remembered. But she had certainly never learned any of these… Words? Concepts?

 _‘Geez’_ , she mused at Other-Her, ‘ _what'd you do to me?_ ’

**:Dragon! Dragon-Feelings, Dragon-Words!:**

Right, well what does that even _mean_?

Like she Knew it was unavoidable bleedover from hosting Other-Her but what _exactly_ got shoved in her brain?

**:Feelings-always-is-and-was! Woke-And-Named!:**

Ok, so Other-Her just came with a dictionary, cool.

But what was the things that were different from normal people? What did having a dragon _do_?

**:Happy-hunting-fighting! Claws-against-scales! Love-Of-The-Chase! Keeping-Mine! Hoarding-love! Fierce-defending-the-wing! Defending-Mine! Being-Scales-And-Teeth-And-Magic-And-Wings-And-Love!:**

The intensity of the last Impressed statement knocked the breath out of Irma, who shook her head to clear the sensory fragment.

 _‘But_ ’, Irma thought as she reviewed the information, _‘But I don’t like hurting people! That’s wrong!_ ’

Other-her dragged her claws against stone.

**:We-Us Dragon:**

**:Needing-Hunting:**

**:Joy-of-winning. Chasing-catching:**

**:Joy-of-vengeance. Mine-Safe!:**

Irma rolled over onto her side. Yeah, she knew dragons were pretty obviously carnivores! But like.

She didn’t want to go out and kill people! She wasn’t a criminal!

**:Anything-for-wingmates-finesafe:**

That-!

She-!

Irma stopped.

Yeah.

Yeah, actually she _would_.

It was kind of… _Not great_ to think about.

But if it was some random baddie or Hay Lin, Irma wouldn’t hesitate.

...Aaand now she was just going to shove that in a box and think about something else.

Deep in her mind Other-Her grumbles and slides into a deep pool of water.

**:Will-See:**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should make it clear that everyone is an unreliable narrator at least a little in this.  
> Cornelia’s little acceptance arc is pretty much over. Promise.  
> Also the singular namedrop of ‘Oneide’ will probably be the only reference to the later arc nymph retcon.  
> Irma also got a little taste of dragon culture and instincts- I had to physically restrain myself from adding more exposition there and pared it down CONSIDERABLY from the first draft. There is. A lot more. If you want A Huge note-dump on TDoK Dragons, their culture, and their psychology, you can read it on my DW(content warning for very brief mention of nsfw topics- https://monsterqueers.dreamwidth.org/6492.html#cutid1), it might spoil you slightly on some non-essential things though- as a warning. Its supplementary, and not needed to enjoy the fic.  
> This was mostly a wrapping up chapter of most of the loose ends left lying around. There's still a few, namely what Taranee is up to, what Caleb is doing now that he’s back + the rebel fallout, and what’s been going on with Elyon.  
> Then the plotline can speed up again.


End file.
